The Hunted Ones
by FreakingOutGirl
Summary: Makishima is after Kougami... What will he do to hurt the Enforcer? Is he going to discover the man's weakness and use it against him? And how is Akane going to play into that story? Is she Kougami's liability or the only way he can win? Follows cannon until episode 10! Watch while Kougami dives into Makishima's life to save his own and Akane's...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

He was a hunter with standards. A hunter that could sense the best prey from miles away, like they were screaming to be killed, like they wanted the hot metal piercing their flesh and blood, like they wanted _him_ to be the last image they ever saw. However, not every prey deserved his time, not every prey could make him feel that anticipation and anxiety before pulling the trigger, not every prey was like Kougami Shinya…

He observed how the man ran to her, how he screamed her name, how he fell over his knees when she didn't answer any of his anxious yells. He observed how he cradled her against his body and looked up, with blazing fury over his eyes. The man was no longer human, he had crossed that fine line between man and beast and was now looking with a predatory shine in his eyes. The hunter smiled, it was all he wanted, all he desired when killing someone: to see that rapacious shine disappear with the last breathe of life of the prey.

* * *

**My first attempt at Psycho-Pass, my newest love! And obviously it's AkanexKougami!**


	2. Chapter 1 A different kind of species

**Chapter 1**

**A different kind of species**

* * *

_I'm sorry, you were right… _

He couldn't take Gino's words out of his mind. The superior man swallowed his pride and apologized to him, the former Inspector, now a mere dog of the Bureau. He wished he could feel relieved or even happy that all his old conjectures weren't crazy thoughts of his mind, however, it left him in a crossroad: how lunatic could someone be to influence such a disparate number of people to succumb to their most animalistic desires…

"Kougami-san…" someone called and he jumped, feeling a presence beside him.

He turned and saw her, his owner, the Inspector Tsunemori Akane, observing him with a veiled expression.

"Are you worried about Makishima?" Tsunemori asked when he spun again and returned to his city-gazing.

"Hum…" he answered, non-committedly and the woman puffed her cheeks for some instants, controlling her annoyance with his answer.

"Ko!" a male called from behind them, the word transported through the roof by the cold wind. They turned to see Kagari wave at them to follow him.

Akane started walking first, but with his long legs, Kougami quickly reached her with two strides.

"I am…" he said, when he outstripped her and entered the warm building.

"What?" Kagari asked, following the older man's descend with his eyes.

Akane shook her head, showing he shouldn't worry about that and quickly followed the black-haired man, leaving the other one behind with a curious expression plastered all over his face.

* * *

"The team has been seeing the traffic records around the school's campus, but until now, no one was able of finding Makishima, it's like he is a ghost, disappearing from a place to another…" Kagari said with a grin, his hands inside his pockets, while walking beside the woman.

Akane looked at him again, wondering, not for the first time, how this man's life, so easy-to-go, so apparently happy, could have been different if the Sybil System was never developed, could he turn into a psychopath or would he choose the path of justice? It was something that always made her feel low-spirited whenever she thought about that: the way an apparently innocuous system changed radically all those people's life… and not necessarily for the better…

"Stop thinking about that!" someone said harshly, and Akane found herself face to face with Kougami, that apparently decided to stop without warning and turn around to look at her.

"What?" she replied, feeling her cheeks flaming a bit.

"Pitying us… I hate it. We are what we are and there's nothing you can do to change that!" Kougami said and the woman felt her skin go pale; his eyes were burning into her soul and she felt like her lungs couldn't move fast enough to keep the correct oxygenation of her brain. He scoffed and then, from nowhere, patted her hair. Turning around once again, he left her dumbfounded, until a laugh from their third party, that she had forgotten entirely, brought her back to the present.

"I think you should rethink your answer…" Kagari said, while whistling.

"What answer?" Tsunemori asked, but the only reaction she got was a loud laugh. "It must be a male thing…" she grumbled, following the two odd man into their office.

The team was all there, their eyes red with the continuous observation of the monitors, searching, through the crowds, someone that could assemble the blurry image of their fugitive.

Kougami was already in his post, his screen on and a multitude of boxes and identities' scans running. Even with all their technology, the retina scans, the termocollection, the recorded phone conversations and even the ability to track anyone through the planet, they still couldn't find a mere human… It was driving all them crazy, especially Kougami that lost everything he had because of that bastard…

Akane sighed and started typing, searching for the millionth time any connection, any thread, between the puppets and their puppeteer…

* * *

**I know it's short, but I want to set the mood before jumping in the action. And this story follows the anime until episode 10, after that I will use some ideas from the future episodes, but the interactions and the situations will be different from them on...**


	3. Chapter 2 Over the water

**Chapter 2**

_**Over the water**_

* * *

It was not the first time she had that dream. It was not the first time she woke up with her own scream permeating through the house and her personal holographic companion with a cold cloth over her forehead.

She didn't know why those images kept bothering her, but since one of her last sessions of criminal profiling when they talked about the lengths the human kind could go, especially in the old days, she kept dreaming of _him. Kougami Shinya…_ That man made her go insane sometimes, always wearing that cold look of his, but then, from nowhere, he could make a joke, normally at her expense, and she could see a total different side of him; the side from his days as an Inspector… probably more joyous, happier… _free…_

It was his entire fault she couldn't sleep: every time they discussed a new facet of Makishima's dark nature, she would meet with him at night, during her dreams, with him as victim and her finding him in all the atrocity that that man and his puppets could come up with.

She was tired and moody and worst, she felt like someone was watching her steps. For three or four times she stopped and looked around, finding only ordinary people walking by, with, probably, only their daily worries invading their minds. She felt ashamed of herself... _What a stupid thing to think!_ Who would follow her? She was nobody important…

And she thought that until the train incident, when, for the first time she felt like her world would crumble if he wasn't there when they reached his indicated position. She knew she was incompetent for leaving him alone, not because she shouldn't trust him, but because she should protect him at all costs, even if Ginoza-san disagreed. He tried to tell her it was all a trap for him, but she couldn't erase the scene of an angry Ginoza-san telling her Kougami-san used her to escape... how it was her fault his honor and worst, his life, was put in peril.

* * *

"_You should talk with the girl..."_ he remembered Masaoka saying to him, after their return from the tunnels, and for some moments he wondered why, until he noticed how she acted around his old partner and even around the Enforcers; it was like she was even more retracted than usual and it struck him that he never heard anything about the incident in Tsunemori's point of view, while he was narrating his own part. It could be they already heard her, but the way she would look away when he tried to engage her in a conversation gave him the certainty something happened while he was away.

"Why are you stopping here?" she asked, when he parked the car halfway from Saiga's house for another class. Even if Ginoza told them to stop that, no one could order her how to use her weekends' time… and the time she spent with the former teacher made her understand the way Kougami thought...

"We need to talk, away from the others' ears." he said, exiting the car without waiting for her. He grabbed his cigarette and lighting it with his lighter released a puff of smoke, while walking away.

She followed him, her big eyes wide with shock and her friend's words ringing inside her head.

_"I think he likes you..." she said, when they were finally alone, a bottle of wine between the two of them. _

_Akane spit her drink, her cheeks rosy with shame._

_"What?" she squealed, grabbing her glass more forcefully._

_"Kougami-san… the gloomy guy that saved me from those maniacs..." Yuki clarified, a smile tugging at her lips over her friend's reaction. "I always thought that you probably had a thing for him, the way you talked about how he confounded you...and all that and now, after hearing what he thinks about you…"_

_"And what is that?" she immediately replied to her friend's contentment._

_"You should ask him…"she replied, with a teasing tone._

"Masaoka hinted that something happened while I was being hunted…" Kougami said, playing with the lighter and noticing Tsunemori's eyes widening. "And I was right… something really happened…"

"It was all my fault! They thought you had run away, but I couldn't believe it, I knew you wouldn't do something like that!" Tsunemori disclosed, without thinking and when realized what words left her mouth, covered her lips with her hands.

"You don't like water… Why?" Kougami asked, catching her by surprise.

She looked at him and then towards the cliff where they were talking, the river under their feet ruthlessly moving against the rock.

"I don't know… I can't remember ever liking it… even as a kid… so swimming is out of question for me…" she said, with an ashamed smile.

"It's a pity…" he said, turning around and walking towards the car.

She was left there, wondering what those words meant and when one of the different meanings passed through her mind she felt her cheeks flame. _He couldn't be saying that… could he?_ She shook her head and punched herself lightly on the head… _what a stupid thing to think!_

* * *

_**Like you can see, Yuki is still alive in this, because when I planned the story episode 11 wasn't out and I always thought they would be able of saving her... It was really shocking, but also the best episode until now. But don't worry, you will see Tsunemori in all her depression after I use a scene from that episode...**_


	4. Chapter 3 Drowning

**Chapter 3**

**Drowning**

* * *

"_What the hell did you meant with saying those things to her? She was the most innocent in that entire story!_" Kougami was yelling with Ginoza when Tsunemori and the rest of the Enforcers entered the office, Monday morning.

The two men turned around when the newcomers entered and both of them retreated to their respective places without any other word. Kagari sniggered under his breath and ruffled Akane's hair, before sitting beside his companions.

"You are making him lose his composure…" the light brown-haired man said, escaping before Yayoi had time to slap him in the back of his head.

Akane couldn't shake the feeling that the grey-eyed Enforcer kept his eyes fixed on her longer than normal, and wondered what exactly Ginoza told him about their discussion. She knew she was being stupid, letting emotions rule over her mind, clouding her judgment, but she wasn't able of stopping it, she wasn't able of stopping her heart from racing when he passed her or when he looked at her, she couldn't stop the horrifying dreams where he died countless times or the worry she would feel while noticing the shadows under his eyes from all the sleepless nights passed in front of a computer, observing, waiting for a clue about Makishima's whereabouts. And it pained her, when leaving she would notice his expression, so detached from reality or a real emotion. She would sigh every time and walk away, his fierce eyes occupying her mind.

However, life kept running and before she knew it a month had passed by and the season was changing.

The autumn arrived with all the splendor of gold and brown colors coloring the streets. She couldn't stop herself from smiling when brown leaves would fly around her, even if the bystanders looked at her like she was insane. She loved that chilly feeling, the warm gloves and scarfs, the hot chocolate beside the fire…

"We have to go!" Ginoza said when Tsunemori appeared from her lunch break, the Enforcers already ready to run. She noticed Kougami grabbing her jacket and she extended her hands to receive it, their fingertips touching lightly, but electrifying, at least for her, under the cloth.

According to their information someone heard one of the neighbors scream like he was being killed, however, while trying to enter, another person from the inside told him it was only the sound system and didn't let the worried citizen verify how or who he was…

* * *

"I didn't leave this place! They are still inside!" the worried middle-aged man said to Ginoza, when the Inspector inquired him about the actual situation.

Kougami traded looks with Kagari, Masaoka and Yayoi and nodding, the woman kicked the door open and entered; her gun ready to shoot. Inside everything was red, the liquid still oozed from the walls and windows, the sickening sound of drops filling the silent room.

"They are not here…" Masaoka said, after inspecting the apartment with Kagari. "And according to that man, no one left… The window is too high for anyone to jump and live… So where is the body and where is the killer?"

Kagari was kicking every corner of the apartment, knocking on the walls and floor, searching for a secret passage, when Yayoi, moving some of the books over the shelves found a small button behind one of them and clicking it made a circular portal appear beside the closed window. They looked at it, surprised, and the older Enforcer chuckled.

"This is something that used to be a great thing in the old days, you know? Secret buttons behind the books was the perfect way to hide a secret passage… Now with all the technology those little enigmas are no longer a pleasure to find…" and he sighed, his hands inside his pockets, while looking with a longing shine over his eyes.

"We should see where this takes us…" Kougami suggested, jumping inside the hole and finding a passage big enough to let them crawl inside it.

"You go while we stay here investigating the place…" Masaoka suggested and Kougami yelled his concordance from the hole.

Tsunemori observed the passage for some seconds and then, running towards it, jumped inside as well, leaving the Enforcers behind with surprised looks over their faces.

"What are you doing here?" Kougami asked when she appeared behind him, crawling over her knees through the descending tunnel.

"I'm not leaving you alone again!" she replied in a rash tone that made Kougami rise his eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, if you rip your skirt I won't lend you my pants…" he said and the woman blushed, an incoming image coming to her mind.

The tunnel was descending quickly; it appeared like it would follow the different floors until the ground and when they felt it would never end, the passage opened, letting them rise to their standing position. They walked through the darkness, only illuminating their steps through their flashlight and after some meters, steep steps appeared, guiding them inside the earth, under the ground floor.

"You can walk back if you want…" Kougami said, looking to Tsunemori with something akin to apprehension.

"No!" the woman replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest with a stubborn expression.

Kougami sighed and raising the flashlight again started walking down the steps, aware at any indication that the Inspector behind him would fall. However, the descending happened without any problem and they found themselves inside a large division looking more like a fabric than a cellar. They could see tables and some machinery under the rusty catwalks around the huge division; however no openings beside the door they used could be seen.

"I know what this is…" Tsunemori said cautiously. "Years ago, in the beginning of the Sybil System, a large group of corporations created a plan for some underground factories that used photophobic people as workers in a way to include them in social active activities to reduce the probability of their psycho-pass go over the accepted limit…" she explained and Kougami looked at her surprised. "I made a report about it as a final project in my university… The problem was that after some time the job made them look more like automates than real humans, since they were always incased in this space…"

Kougami touched the tables softly, noticing how dustless they were. He frowned and looked around, noticing how the place was neatly arranged like people still worked here. A suspicion raised in his mind and he walked towards Akane, once again.

"There are people still here…" he whispered, nodding with his head to her gun. Tsunemori tensed, squeezing the metal between her fingers and looked around, searching for any kind of warning.

She unlocked the gun, activating the psycho-pass and searching the surrounding area, when, from somewhere over them, they heard a yell and something fell over Kougami. Something that looked like a spider, all skinny limbs and pale flesh was fighting with the Enforcer when Tsunemori turned around and immediately another sound was heard: the echo of footsteps in one of the catwalks.

Akane clasped her Dominator and ran towards the sound, leaving the two men wrestling behind. Kougami cursed loudly noticing her running away and tried to punch and kick the man that was encasing his windpipe with colorless hands.

* * *

The catwalk was high, but when the Inspector stepped over the metal and looked down it was like the ground was spinning under her worried eyes. And then, she had no time to worry about that, when another man jumped over her, kicking her hands and making her wrist crack loudly. Her Dominator went flying towards the ground all those meters away and she felt her heart constrict.

"Hello little lady!" said a rough voice, that made her remember pincers from a crab. She observed, surprised, how the skinny man walked swiftly through the catwalk. He was similar with the other one fighting Kougami; however his eyes were red while the other had blue eyes, nonetheless, both had a milky characteristic over them, like they were blind.

"I heard what you told to that big one!" the man said, closing the distance between them. "Do you think you can come here and take us away?" his eyes held a crazy shine over them and Tsunemori swallowed nervously. He was probably one of the workers of this place, probably still working illegally so the bosses could had some profit. However, he looked like he wanted to stay here…

"You were brainwashed!" Tsunemori said without thinking, realizing what was really happening.

The man roared and invested toward her like a bull. She tried to deflect him and for some moments was able of doing it, until she felt the metal rail against her back and the man pushed her over it.

She felt the air passing through her and from the corner of the eye, she saw the man hovering over her explode into pieces. And then his position was replaced by Kougami and his extended arm. She felt his fingers brush hers and for some seconds she thought he would be able of grasping her hand. Then, the air was the only thing touching her outstretched fingers and she braced herself, waiting for the floor deathly touch.

However, it never came. What she felt was much worse, at least for her… _Liquid, liquid everywhere_… She tried to move and float, but her body, so fearful of water, entered in a panic mode, leaving her unable of any rational thought. She felt her lungs aflame with the need of oxygen, her eyes hurting with the water's touch and the blackness starting to surround her, fighting over her body and mind. She tried to fight, to win the battle for her survival, but her body was so heavy, her limbs weighed tons and her mind was no longer hers. She was dying and she knew it.

* * *

**I know cliffhangers are really mean, but I love them!**

**I just to wish you guys a good new year, best than the previous, with all the love, health and dreams you deserve!**


	5. Chapter 4 Savior

**Chapter 4**

_**Savior**_

* * *

"Shit, shit, shit! Wake up Tsunemori!" Kougami screamed, pumping her chest with his fists. He looked to her pale face and closing her nose with one of his hands and opening her mouth with the other he connected their lips, urging a flow of hair into her lungs. He did it once, twice, thrice and was despairing at her irresponsiveness when, finally, he felt her lips moving under his own. He withdrew his face to look into her brown eyes and a small smile tugged his lips when he noticed her blushing cheeks, while coughing all the water inside her lungs. When she looked up again, she looked surprised at his proximity and the relieve invaded her expression.

"Thank you!" she whispered in a raspy tone, her throat hurting from her near-drowning.

"Relax…" Kougami said, touching her cheek and grabbing his jacket from the floor. It was ripped from him during the fight and was the only piece of dry cloth they had. Putting it over her trembling body, he sighed, closing his eyes and letting his body fall beside her own.

"Shit, you scared the hell out of me…" he confessed, his eyes still closed.

Akane half-raised her body to look at him and he opened his eyes and turned his head to return her stare.

"What? Do I have something in my face again?" he replied and she quickly shook her head.

The sound of hurried steps made them look up and some moments later Kagari appeared with Ginoza, both wielding their weapons. Kougami sighed and left his head fall back against the floor.

* * *

"So, they were taken as children to work in that factory, but when the brother of the mastermind behind it found out and tried to set them free through the secret passage they killed him and dragged his body with them?" Tsunemori replied, after Ginoza explained what they found out while the two of them were fighting the two men.

"Apparently yes, the house was named after the victim's brother and there are marks over the body indicating he was attacked by those two…" the older man answered and the young Inspector nodded, tightening Kougami's jacket against her body.

It was hard to imagine someone living all their life inside that factory, not knowing how the outside world looked. It wasn't a surprise they were so scared to leave it, they were like wild animals being brought against their will, their survival instincts talked over all the other thoughts. And Akane frowned, imagining how many other could be in that same situation. If the man behind that didn't die and his brother inherit the house that situation would have been known... And because of that, three inocent people died that day...

Ginoza recommended her to leave and waving her goodbyes toward the Enforcers she followed the advice, leaving the rest of the investigation to her colleagues.

"Let's go…" the jacket owner said, from behind Tsunemori, and the woman looked at him surprised. He was walking with his hands inside his pockets and entered her car without an invitation. Tsunemori scoffed, but nonetheless sat behind the wheel and the both of them departed from the place.

"I'll have to drop you off at the Bureau…" Akane said, while the man stretched beside her.

"I know, as a criminal latent I can only leave with an Inspector and you wouldn't go with me to your house…" he replied, a teasing grin over his lips.

"No, it's not that, I would invite you in, I mean… as a social meeting, not a date, of course…" Tsunemori stuttered, her cheeks once again reddening.

Kougami chuckled and Akane smiled, enjoying the way the sound made her feel: warm and fuzzy.

"Take a warm bath or you will be sick tomorrow!" Akane advised, when he opened the door to exit the car. Kougami looked at her in a weird way that made her feel like he was measuring her, but then shaking his head turned his back on her.

When he left the car, he waved in a tense motion, like he didn't want to see her leave. And walking inside his room, he realized he really didn't want that. He felt peaceful when he was with her, like he could share his burdens with her and no one else. She made him smile with her quirks and for the first time in so long, he felt incredible scared, seeing her unmoving on that floor... Jumping after her inside the water reservoir it took him some moments to find her through the darkness, and when he finally grabbed her waist and brought her back she wouldn't breath and her pulse was quickly turning fainter. It was like his stomach was filled with iron and his heart ceased beating… and when he touched her lips for the first time, he couldn't suppress the oozing feeling that took control of his mind for those seconds. He didn't know what the hell was that, but he couldn't say it was a bad thing… actually, it was the first time in some years that he felt really alive.

* * *

**A cute chapter, before all hell breaks loose in the next!**


	6. Chapter 5 Criminal

**Chapter 5**

**Criminal**

* * *

Her house was cold. She felt the goosebumps rising over her arms, even under the protection of Kougami's jacket. _Kougami Shinya_… the man she fell in love with…

During her way home she kept thinking about him, the way he made her feel and how she would act and worry and laugh with him, how his smile made the world seem brighter and his scowl turn the perkiest day into a tempest. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment those feelings started developing, it was like a flower blooming in the spring: slow, trying to arrange her petals for the longest time and then, from nowhere, it would open and show the world her beautiful colors. And right now, Akane was scared of showing those colors to Kougami, let alone to the world.

She grabbed her house command and turned on her jellyfish hologram, letting the cute being wonder around her, worrying over her wet appearance.

Tsunemori walked toward her bedroom, feeling a weird gush of cold hair from the division, like it happened when she left the window open… but she remembered closing it this morning…

She felt her fingers twitch like they could grab her dominator, but the gun couldn't be brought home and so, she was left defenseless. She entered the bedroom, surrounded by darkness, and pressed the light button on the command.

And she felt the air being ripped from her lungs when she screamed.

* * *

"_Ko! Open up! Kougami!_" someone yelled, banging on his door.

He turned in his bed, grumbling under his breathe. Recognizing Kagari's voice, he wondered if the man was trying to engage him in another of his games.

"What?" Kougami grumbled, opening the door and letting his weight fall over the doorframe.

"We received an emergency call from one of Akane's neighbors. When the patrol got there they found her in her bedroom, and the body of that friend of hers was nailed to the wall with her throat sliced… Apparently there was a message too…" Kagari said in a low tone. "_Do you want to kill me?"_

"Where is she?" Kougami replied, grabbing an old jacket from behind the door and dressing it over his t-shirt.

"In the infirmary… She was in shock…"

Kagari lowered his voice in a respectful manner and followed the quick steps of Kougami.

When they entered the infirmary, they found a doctor giving the brown-haired woman a shot, while her eyes showed a traumatized expression. Her mouth was slightly agape, like she was still screaming, this time silently.

Kougami didn't wait for any kind of invitation and grabbing a chair, sat beside her bed. The doctor looked at him shocked and apparently was going to argue with him, but when he saw the expression on the man's face he thought better and decided to let it rest.

She slept through the night, while he observed her expressions with a voyeuristic pleasure.

The sun rose and with them Akane's eyelids, first slowly, and them resolutely.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kougami asked when she turned her head toward him, feeling stupid in the next second when realizing she was far from okay.

She nodded, her eyes glassy and her expression vacant.

"It's my fault..." Akane whispered, after some moments. "He is playing with me..."

"Makishima..." Kougami replied, softly. They knew the only person that had some gain in killing Kougami inside the tunnels was that man, and now, using her same friend was too much of a coincidence. He was chasing them, circling like a predator ready to take a strike. Kougami could feel his breathe behind his neck, like he was watching over his shoulder for their next move and that feeling made his stomach lurch with guilt.

"He is after me... After all, he killed Sasayama when he was investigating him..." Kougami said, in a thoughtful tone. His expression darkened and his hands closed in fists over his lap.

"Then you are in danger! You have to get some kind of protection!" she said in a harsh tone, surprising the Enforcer with her attitude. Moments ago she looked like she was some kind of shock-stricken victim, and now, here she was, ready to fight for him…_ for him…_

Kougami extended his hand, touching her upper arm and then following the line of her limb, until their fingers touched. Akane's breathing quickened and her cheeks reddened, when his warm digits interlocked with her own, making her body shiver in a welcoming way.

"Your hand is so cold…" he whispered, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb.

She thought it was probably because her face stole all the warmth from the way it was burning.

"You… you should sleep… They will probably give you some days off to have a psychological help…" Kougami said, remembering what he was supposed to do after Sasayama's death, but never did. "And… maybe you should stay here… for the time being… until we get him…" he added, while rising from the chair.

Akane nodded, feeling the cold invade once again with his distance; the memories from last time resurfacing from her deepest fears: Yuki's mangled body, all that blood over her room, the message, the cold feeling left from the open window, _the way her eyes were so widen and her… her smile… that they carved from her lips to her cheeks…_ _her bloody smile… her extended hands…_

Akane opened her eyes, her breathe ragged from the memories inside her brain, and turning in the bed, she pressed her mouth against the pillow and screamed until her throat could no longer…

* * *

**Poor** **Yuki, I was really shocked when she died, but seeing in it a way to bring Akane and Kougami together I had to use it, in a much more carnage way. The part about being nailed to the wall was like those hunting trophies when hunters cut the animals' head and use it as a trophy in their rooms (I hate those things, I'm totally against recreative hunting - kill animals to live not to have fun!)**


	7. Chapter 6 Nightly Routine

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Nightly routine**_

* * *

He saw her walking through the corridor toward her designed room. Her eyes were vacant of that innocent look, the shine that made him hopeful in human beings, the pure white that he always related with her psycho pass... And now, it looked like a dark cloud followed her everywhere, hiding any ray of sunlight that tried to penetrate her personal hell.

* * *

For some hours he was able of keeping his distance, but imagining her... _alone, cold, afraid..._ in her room, made his stomach lurch like someone had punched him. He turned off the fighting programme, the thing keeping him from running to her from the begining, and taking a quick shower, almost run to her door.

He knocked some times, and even if he was sure he heard sniffs behind the closed door, no one opened it.

The day ended and with it Kougami's patience. He was never a patient man, he acted according to his own will and dealed with the consequences of his actions later, but if there was a consequence he didn't want to deal with was Tsunemori's psycho-pass clouding.

He closed his bedroom door with a bang and marched towards her bedroom. Knocking again, he got the same answer, but looking from one side to the other of the corridor and seeing no one, he tried opening the door with the code the newcomers always received. He sighed, relieved that Akane haven't changed it yet when the door slided in front of him.

Kougami walked inside the room, trying to discern any human shape through the darkness. And then, he found her. She was sitting on the floor, against the wall, her legs lifted against her chest, her chin resting over her knees and her arms surrounding her legs.

"Inspector…" he whispered and the woman looked up, observing him with queer eyes. He swallowed what he wanted to say and walking forward sat, just like her, on the floor. He used the wall to rest his head, leaving his longs legs extended in front of his body. He made no movement to touch her, leaving the empty space on the wall, under the window, as the only barrier between them. She looked at him when he sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for any kind of reaction that never came. She felt her heartbeat settle down and closed her own eyes once again, letting her head fall against the wall, mimicking his position. Unknown to her, he never slept, veiling her rest like he could, with his fierce eyes, keep away all her terrors.

* * *

When she rustled, a couple of hours later he closed his eyes immediately, not wanting to let the woman be in an uncomfortable position.

When she opened her eyes, she looked, surprised, to her right. She observed his long lashes and the dark shadows under his eyes; how his nose was so straight and his chin looked like it was chiseled. She bit her lip and extending her hand slowly, touched his shoulder, shaking it a little.

Kougami opened his eyes and winked like he had just woke up from a dream.

"Thank you..." she whispered. And he nodded, knowing how hard it was to admit your own weakness. "You spent all this time on the floor because of me..."

"Don't worry!"he replied, stretching his long arms. "Believe me, I've slept in worse places. Besides, the company wasn't so bad." he said, with a little smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Akane smiled back, a small and weird one, but a smile nonetheless and Kougami felt his mind rest a little. Waving at her, he opened her door and observing the corridor to see if it was clear, he walked out, towards his own quarters. He didn't know why he felt the need to be worried, they didn't do anything wrong, they just sat there... not even talking... But he knew no one would believe him if he said he had spend the night with her and nothing happened, and even if it wasn't an unwelcoming idea, he would never put her place and authority in peril because of a reckless action of his part when she was so frail.

However, even if he wanted to make himself believe nothing different was happening, that night he found himself once again in front of her door. This time, however, he waited the right time, when the guards taking care of the surveillance room would change shifts, letting only the mechanical witness, for some minutes, taking care of them. Not everyone knew of those schedules, however, as a former Inspector, Kougami had some knowledge the common dog couldn't access to.

And when he found her in the same place, her eyes not surprised but welcoming, he felt any feeling of unease disappearing from his mind.

This time she talked, telling him about the first time she met Yuki and how the girl dumped a large glass of orange juice over her when tripping over her own feet. Kougami smiled, imagining the younger Tsunemori taking care of the girl that just emptied an orange torrent over her.

"She was so worried, she wanted to pay my lunch even if I had finished it already and would have given me a whole closet if the bell didn't ring for our classes. From then on we started hanging together, she was my first friend in the university..." Tsunemori said, a small tear running through her cheeks. Kougami wiped the salty drop away with his thumb, surprising the both of them.

"I could see she liked you very much... She was worried about you going in those kind of missions." the man said, trying to diffuse the tension created by his thoughtless move, by recalling his time with the girl his Inspector was so fond of.

"I didn't want my friends knowing a lot about my work. I felt like they deserved to be left alone from what we see everyday..." Akane confessed, playing with the hem of her pajamas blouse.

Kougami observed her during some moments, thinking if he should ask about a particular information Yuki said to him. He wanted to know what she really thought, and the way her big eyes would widen in embarrassment when he asked her that, but at the same time he didn't want to destroy the peace they were able of creating. _Another night... _he thought, rising from the floor.

"Are you leaving?" she asked and he noticed, with a hint of pride, that her voice sounded sorrowful at the prospect of him leaving her.

He didn't answer, letting his actions speak for himself. Grabbing a quilt from her bed, he sat beside her, covering both of them with the warm cloth.

Her face was surprised, but when his warm started sipping into her body, she sighed and cuddled against the quilt. Even without looking at him, she knew he was smirking. Closing her eyes, she let her mind rest from all her anxiety and fear. Kougami was there and it was all she needed to feel safe and protected.

* * *

**For the sake of this story, just pretend the Enforcers' rooms and the Inspectors' are in the same building (I don't even know if there are rooms for the Inspectors, but let's pretend there is...). I believe it could happen since, probably, it wasn't a lot of Inspectors needing to live in the Bureau building, and for those who needed, they wouldn't have a whole new buidling...**

**Did you see last episode? I was so sad for Yayoi and Kougami as an Inspector was weird, especially when he tricked her with the Dominator... I believe the present Kougami would have given her a real one...**


	8. Chapter 7 The two faces of a coin

**Chapter 7**

_**The two faces of a coin**_

* * *

She rustled and whimpered in her sleep, begging for someone's life. Her night terrors were back, now more vivid than ever.

He woke up with her screaming his name and when, opening her eyes, she saw him there, beside her, she encased him inside her arms, feeling the hair in the back of his head under her fingers.

Kougami stood there dumbstruck. She was clinging to him for dear life, while he was left speechless. Then, doing what he wanted from the very first moment, he hugged her back, letting, for the first time in years, his walls crumble in front of another human being.

She started crying, her sobs racking her small frame, while his big hands squeezed the back of her pajamas between his fingers. He let her weep, each sob hurting him more than he thought possible, however, he knew she needed that. During all those days, she kept it all hidden inside herself, trying to keep her mask in place, but now, letting it all out, he felt relieved that she was finally able of healing, like he knew she was strong enough to do.

When her frame stopped shaking and she withdrew herself to clean her tears, he was, once again, quicker, cleaning her cheekbones with his hands.

Akane didn't know what was happening with that man. In a moment he was her colleague, teasing her with his jokes and then, he would turn into these thoughtful man, compassionate and supportive that would sleep on the floor for her and that was making her fall even harder for him.

"You have to let it go! All the pain, sorrow, hate... You can't let him mess with you, you are so much better than him... than any of us, really..." Kougami said, letting his thumb wander through her face without a conscious thought.

Akane closed her eyes and molded her face against his now open hand, that was cupping her cheek.

"Kougami-san..." she exhaled, her eyelids fluttering under his ministrations.

He didn't know what made him act, he couldn't say what thoughts passed through his mind in that moment. The only thing he could say was that Tsunemori's lips molding against his own felt like paradise on earth. It has been years since he let himself touch a woman like that, and sure as hell, none of his former lovers made him feel with a night of passion as her simple kiss made him feel.

He barely noticed his hands pulling her against his body or the way she sat on his lap. The only thing he could think about was the salty taste on her lips and the warmess of her body against his.

When they finally felt their lungs burning from the lack of oxygen they parted, their eyes prisoner of each others.

Akane's lips were red and bruised and Kougami was out of breath. For some moments all they could do was look at each other like they could not believe what had just happened between them.

"I'm sorry, I took advantage of the situation, I shouldn't have come here..." Kougami was the first to talk, the apology right beside his tongue. He tried to got up and failed, realizing for the first time how she was straddling him.

"Please..." she whispered, knowing if she let him go everything would change for the worse. "Don't. I don't want to be alone. And you didn't take advantage of me, I wanted it too..." she confessed, her cheeks a lovely pink.

Kougami looked at her mesmerized. How could someone pure as her care for someone like him? The way she said it, was like she felt those feelings for a long time. Was he so obtuse that he didn't realize how she felt? What kind of Enforcer was he, letting something like that pass without his awareness?

"Are you sure about that?" Kougami asked, his voice a bit colder than necessary, but he had to make her see what she was getting herself into. "Probably, one day, you will have to kill me, my Psycho-Pass might rise when we find Makishima and you would have to pull the trigger or I can enter in a rampage of craziness like we saw so many latent criminals do… Are you ready to take that chance with someone like me?" his eyes were burning, the bluish grey color darker than normal while he observed her thoughtful expression.

"I won't let it happen… I will be there beside you to calm you and help you see reason and if I can't I will make Kagari-san punch you until you are passed out…" she said, her fighting stance appearing once again, just like it did when she defended him from Ginoza after her first class with Saiga.

"And if no one is there to help you? What if it's only you and me? Can you promise me that you will be able of doing it? Can you swear you won't let your emotions cloud your judgment? If you can't promise me that, I don't think we should keep this… whatever this is…" Kougami said, his tone gaining a detached aspect that made the woman shiver.

She breathed deeply, imagining how it would feel to shoot him to kill. She remembered how she felt when she pulled the Dominator's trigger in their first mission; how the vision of his body in that bed made her stomach lurch, how the way his muscular chest connected with those wires made her heart hurt… And then it was all the guilt she felt that made her feel like that… How could she shoot him when all her heart and mind told her to kiss him? How could she kill the man she loved?

He was still looking at her, waiting for an answer. And she realized he was asking for help in a way only he could… because he knew that when or if that time came she was the one he wanted to pull the trigger, she was the only one he trusted with his life and to end it too… In his grey eyes she saw all that and swallowing all the pain and grieve she would feel if she had to really do that, she nodded, promising to herself that even if hell and heaven rose she would save him from himself no matter what.

"Thank you…" he whispered and she saw how her theories were correct. She was his savior and hangman and he wouldn't have it any other way, just like his second and fervent kiss told her.

* * *

**I really like how Kougami worried about Tsunemori is the last episode. And from the moment we found out that Ginoza's father was a latent criminal, I had the suspicion he was Masaoka... That explains how he is the one to always make him realize how hard he is to the others around him...**


	9. Chapter 8 Getting back on track

**Chapter 8**

_**Getting back on track**_

* * *

Akane returned to work three days after her confession to Kougami. Her colleagues had a chocolate and strawberry cake ready for her, giving their support through their hugs and jokes, trying to make her feel better with herself and at least for some moments forget the huge elephant in the room.

Masaoka put his hands over her shoulders and squeezed it in a fatherly way, smiling with his wrinkling eyes.

"We are so happy for having you back, missy!" he said, while Kagari poured some drinks to all of them.

"You have half the bottle for you!" Kagari said, pushing the bottle toward her with a huge grin. "Let's get drunk!"

"I hope you mean after work hours…" a male voice said behind them and Kagari smiled shamelessly.

"Of course, Ginoza-san, what would you expect from me?"

The Inspector scowled and pushing his glass against his nose, approached the group.

"We want to welcome you back. It was a sorrowful thing to happen, but we are all here to help you… If you feel that you are not ready to go to the field you have to say or else you will put us in jeopardy…" Ginoza said in a straight forward tone.

"Inspector…" Masaoka advised, in a tone that made Akane look at him surprised; it was just like when he lost control while Kougami was in the tunnels, like he wanted to say something else, but was unable to. Yayoi put her hand over Akane's shoulder and squeezed, making the girl forget her wonderings.

"He is right, I can't put your lives in danger because of some reckless action from my part." Tsunemori said to the Enforcers behind her and then, turning to the Inspector, she continued. "I won't endanger any investigation. I'm ready to work again and help the Bureau keeping people safe."

Behind Ginosa's tense back the department's door opened and Kougami entered with swift steps.

"Cake and drinks, why didn't you invite me?" he asked Ginoza with a small grin. The Inspector scoffed and rolled his eyes at his words, making Kagari snicker under his breathe.

"I see you're back, Inspector… Ready to take some criminals down again?" Kougami asked Tsunemori, like nothing had happened between them during those nights together.

"Don't worry, I'm ready!" she replied, her eyes a fierce flame of promptness.

"Your psycho-pass' results came yesterday…" Ginoza said to Tsunemori when they sat in their respective posts. "In the first day they were a bit higher than normal, but apparently they quickly decreased every time you took the test…"

"You didn't even need a psychologist help… It was remarkable…" Masaoka said with a hint of pride in his words. Ginoza and the rest nodded and Tsunemori felt her cheeks coloring while trying to keep images of her helper away from her mind. And looking up, she found him smirking at her. She crossed her arms and turning around, started reading one of the newest reports on her screen.

"Do you have any new lead about how he entered the Inspector's house?"Akane heard Kougami's voice ask and Ginoza answer him with a negative. Kougami grumbled back in a lower voice that she was unable of hearing, but according to Ginoza's expression it was nothing nice or polite.

* * *

"Maybe you should stay here..." Ginoza said that afternoon after receiving orders about a crime scene. Tsunemori was ready to go with them, but she could understand his point of view. Probably for a first day she should take it lightly... She noticed Kougami's expression and sending him a meaningful look stopped him from saying anything. And because of that, she had to see them running toward a crime scene without her. In a way to occupy her mind she started reading some of the reports left on the public monitor, until her hand touched the one she would rather forget. She didn't know why, but instead of putting it away she opened the file, letting the brilliant screen reflect the words in her eyes.

She tried to read the report with detachment, like she could distance herself from the cruel pictures taken inside her room. She didn't know if she would ever be able of returning to that house, but for now, flowing in the peace brought by Kougami, she didn't to think about her leaving conditions.

"How could he enter the house without anyone noticing him?" she whispered to herself and an awful idea was brought to the forefront of her mind. If people saw a couple walking side by side, him with his hand around the back of the girl's neck, they wouldn't see anything odd, besides a loving couple. They couldn't know she was being taken against her will... Yuki had a key and the code, in case of an emergency and he could have used it to enter... And if both of them entered alive, it meant...

"Oh no!" Akane gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. She felt her knees shake and had to sat over Kagari's chair to spot her body from meeting the floor.

He killed her inside her house, he cleaned after himself and only let what he wanted her to see... But if that was the case, why didn't they have any record of the cameras in her street? She had no surveillance inside her apartment, like in so many new buildings, but she was sure her neighborhood had it... Then why no one found it? She store that doubt until later, when Kougami and she would be alone and could talk without preambles.

* * *

"I thought you would want to come with us..." Kougami asked, when she fell over the bed, her hair wet from her shower.

"I wanted to, but I thought that Ginoza-san would be too worried with me, just like the others and it could jeopardize their skills. I know they are still unsure about my return, and I want to show that they can trust me to do my job!" she replied, in a heated tone that made the man's expression beside her smoothen.

"That's my girl..." he replied and Akane giggled.

"By the way... today I read the report about... Yuki..." Akane said and Kougami raised his brows surprised and worried. "Why is there no surveillance of my street?" she asked, ignoring the apprehensive look he was observing her with.

"Because there was none. Apparently, he probably took her inside during an electric problem..." Kougami said, but through his tone she realized he didn't believed it.

"I know how he entered..." Akane said suddenly and Kougami raised his trunk to look at her. "Yuki had a key and the code, and both of them entered in my house alive." she said softly, feeling the tears that were left unshed that afternoon threaten to make an appearance.

"Hey..." Kougami said against her cheek,bringing her down against his body. He kissed her tears away, and kept kissing when they stopped. She rustled over him and he turned them, making her rest under his body.

"You are an amazing woman!" he said, before letting his body take control of the situation and make her forget anything outside of their bed.

* * *

The dawn was approaching, but Kougami had no desire to see her leaving. She was smiling at him while he draw circles on her back, the peace making both of them content in their small private place. The sheets were pooled around their waists, leaving little to imagination, not that Kougami minded, city-gazing was quickly being replaced as one of his favorite hobby, giving that place to her body. She was petit and frail looking, nothing like the woman he used to date, however, with none of them had he ever felt so powerful and so weak at the same time; he was hers to command, not because of their statute as Inspector and Enforcer, but because he could feel in mind and body the undeniable pull to follow her and make her happy.

"You are turning me into a pansy... " he grumbled and she looked at him, surprised. Then, with a mischievous look spreading through her face she replied.

"Should I be worried that the hotshot Enforcer does no longer have his male powerness?"

"What?" he replied, shocked with his words. "You are spending too much time with Kagari! He is rubbing on you!" he replied with a fake worried voice.

Akane giggled again and crawled over his chest, stopping with her face inches away from his. He smiled at her, and covering their naked bodies, closed his eyes once again.

"I love you..." he heard a ghostly voice say, before he fell asleep. In that realm between awakness and the realm of dreams, he couldn't be sure he heard right, but nonetheless, a smile spread though his features before he succumbed to sleep.

* * *

**This is bigger and has a lot of fluff, but don't worry, the story has a lot of dark parts, believe me. Especially when Makishima makes his appearence, but I can't stop myself from writing those sweet scenes between Akane and Shinya. **


	10. Chapter 9 Facing Reality

**Chapter 9**

_**Facing reality**_

* * *

"He probably has someone that can control the cameras." Yayoi said, when in the next day Akane shared her doubts. "But Ginoza-san is not so sure we should share that suspicion. He probably doesn't want to raise waves before we are certain. That could make them change their tactics..."

Akane looked to Kougami, noticing his features darken; she knew he hated waiting, and worst, wait for someone like Makishima to make his move. He kicked his chair and exited the room, almost bumping into Ginoza that observed him walk away with a crease between his eyes.

"He is getting worse…" he said to Masaoka when the older man waved at him.

"I'm not so sure… I think he is getting better…" Masaoka said, biting his lip. "Ever since the missy came he has become more thoughtful and less reckless…" the Enforcer said in a low voice that made the Inspector look to the girl at the back of the room typing on her computer.

"Do you think something is happening between them?" Ginoza said, worried about how something like that could influence the team.

"Kougami is too focused in Makishima to realize what real life feels like and the missy is too innocent to do something like that…" Masaoka replied, not wanting to worry the man with his own doubts. In all truth, he wasn't so sure about his words… but if there was one thing he was certain, it was that his goal in life was to keep that man's peace of mind… In the end, he was the real cause of all the troubles he passed through while growing up… Kagari made some remarks that made him think about the relationship between Tsunemori and Kougami, but he would rather worry in silence than rat them out to the Inspector; Ginoza was an honorable man, like his father tried to be until it was too much, but he would do everything to stop that relationship, if it really existed. It was his fault his superior felt so strongly about the rules… It couldn't be easy seeing your own father lose himself to his dark thoughts and leave his wife and son behind to cope with the consequences…

* * *

"I want to visit my house…" she said bluntly while Kougami dried his hair with a towel after his bath.

He looked at her, surprised. And then, observing her eyes, he saw how they were resolute and he understood; it was the last mile step towards her fully recovery.

"I will go with you…" he said, with no doubt marring his voice.

"Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable remembering what he did to Sasayama…" Akane said, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

Kougami grabbed the towel forcefully and sent it flying towards the floor with rage. He crawled to her and grabbing her cheeks with more force than necessary he whispered with frenzy.

"I won't let you go alone! What if they are there waiting for you? We don't know how his actual puppet looks like! If they killed you…" he sighed, releasing her cheeks. "I can't lose you too, Akane…" he said and it didn't pass unnoticed that it was the first time he called her by her first name. Even if they shared their bed and their bodies with each other for weeks now, he never let that last wall fall, until now…

"Shinya… don't worry… I won't go anywhere without you…" Akane replied, with a soft smile.

He sighed again and letting himself fall against the pillows he replied: "You're going to be the death of me…" to which Akane's expression fell.

"Don't ever say something like that…" she said, kneeing beside his body and laying her head over his chest. _I won't let you die, I promised to myself I wouldn't!_

* * *

"They cleaned it all… It's like all of that was a dream…" she said, after opening her bedroom door. Everything was like how she left it in that fateful morning: her bed neatly made, her mirror cleaned, her walls without any trace of red ruining them…

Kougami squeezed her shoulders, his muscular chest against her back. And she sighed, walking inside the division. She walked towards the wall, where they impaled her friend and touched the paint, feeling the softness of it under her fingers. She sat on her bed and looked around, noticing Kougami's uncomfortable stance beside her mirror.

"What's going on?" she asked and he looked up, guilt written all over his face.

"I always imagined how your life was outside of work… You would have a colorful house, with a helpful robot and lots of light pouring from your windows… You would wear lacy skirts and dresses and smile and laugh with your friends…" he said, using his hands to point her girly room.

She was looking at him without realizing where he wanted to get.

"You understand that all we have is inside of that room, right? You realize we can never walk together outside of those walls? I'm an Enforcer, I can take no wife or father no children… You can't have a life with me like you would with any other man… I can't give you a ring or ask you to marry me… If anyone finds out, you will be fired and despised by your colleagues… You will lose all respect and people will you see only as the mistress of a dog…" Shinya's voice was hard and cold, the guilt and shame marring each and every word. "Are you ready to say goodbye to all this if anyone finds out?" he asked and Akane flinched with his accusatory tone.

She thought they had already surpassed this stage, but apparently, seeing how she lived made him rethink all of those moments they spent together. She rose to all her height, her hands in her hips and her face angered.

"Are you demented?" she replied, and his eyes widen; those were not the first words he was expecting to come out of her mouth. "Don't you think I thought about all of that while you were asleep beside me? Do you think I'm a child? A feeble girl with no intelligence to guide her? When I choose this job I wanted to know my place in this society, I wanted to understand why I was born, my true mission in here as an active citizen, I didn't want to see my future all written for me… I wanted to fight for it! And in that night, when we kissed for the first time, it all made sense for me! Even if I was only alive to work with you and save you from yourself it would be worth it… You are an amazing man, you work hard to protect people you don't even know, you would give your life to save another, you lost everything trying to avenge your friend, when anyone else would think of him as only a latent criminal. So, don't underrate yourself or me, for choosing you! If someone finds out, we will deal with it, in that time, with that person, but now… don't make me choose over an unreal threat…" she said, biting her lower lip and feeling her throat constrict with a lump. She made herself swallow, while expecting for his answer.

"You stupid girl…" he grumbled and closing the distance between them, pulled her against his chest and kissed her slowly.

"Come…" he said after parting from her. He grabbed her hand and pushed her behind him. "I want to show you my favorite place…"

* * *

**Next chapter we are going to see how Kougami's favorite place look like and believe me, that place will have an important part towards the end of the story...**


	11. Chapter 10 Perspective

**Chapter 10**

_**Perspective**_

* * *

"Wow!" Akane said when Kougami opened the stairs door to let them out.

She walked mesmerized, looking around to the danting sight.

The tower was an old one, the memory of a grand building from decades ago, the memory of a world before the Sybil System.

"No one comes here anymore. The ascend takes too much time and the place scares the people." he explained when she looked to the empty place surrounding them. She could understand why that was, the place looked more like an abandoned storehouse than a national monument. At least, until you turn and observe the mesmerizing view of their city under their feet.

"This is the only place you can be really alone. There are no cameras or any kind of surveillance..." Kougami said with a hint of nostalgia for a world he never met.

"It's beautiful!" Akane said, running towards the veranda to look down.

Kougami walked behind her, slower, observing her expression when finding something new to observe.

"I've never seen the stars looking so bright!" she exclaimed, and turning to look at him, smiled lovingly. "Thank you." she whispered, kissing his cheek.

"I showed you my secret place and all you give me is a kiss on the cheek? Such a disappointment!" he replied in a fake hurting tone.

Akane giggled and supporting her body over the tips of her feet, she grabbed his face and pulled him down, touching her lips with his own.

"When was the last time you came here?" Akane wondered, noticing the dirt on the floor with no shoe prints.

"The last time I was here was the morning of the day they branded me as a latent criminal. In the morning I was Inspector Kougami, at night no more than a dog..." he said, supporting his arms over the balustrade of the veranda.

Akane walked behind him, and extending her arm, touched his shoulder with her fingers. He looked back and surrounding her frame with his arm, brought her against his body. She leaned against him, her head against his pectoral muscle and his hand playing absentedly with the tips of her hair.

"I know you think we have no future, but being here, with you and seeing this beautiful view... I can't help myself from being hopeful of the future..." Akane said and beside her, Shinya sighed.

The woman shivered; her sleeveless dress to frail for the night's weather. The cold wind blew her hair and he, parting from her, stripped of his jacket and let it fall over her naked shoulders. She smiled at him, and let the smell of his perfume envelop her senses. He put his arm around her once again and pulled her to her previous position.

He knew he shouldn't feel like this, he knew he couldn't let her optimism invade him and turn him delusional, but with her like that, his jacket over her shoulders, the way she grasped it and smiled at him, he couldn't stop the small seed of hope from blooming in his cold chest. He just hoped that flower wouldn't be destroyed by feet filled with malice and cruelty.

* * *

They were running through the port. The ships creating ghostly images around them, hidden by the dawn mist.

"Why people like to kill during the night? Seriously, a guy needs to sleep!" Kagari was saying, while Tsunemori ran behind him.

"Shut up!" Masaoka grumbled under his breathe. And pointing his Dominator jumped from behind the cargo container.

"We should separate!" Kougami said and Ginoza nodded.

"Tsunemori-san go with Masaoka-san,Kougami you can go with Kagari and I will go with Yayoi-san." the Inspector decided and the rest of the team nodded, parting toward different directions.

Kougami observed Akane run away and almost felt compelled at following. The last time he left her she almost drowned and after that she found her best friend's dead body in her own room. And then he heard a scream in his communicator, a scream that sounded just like Akane's.

"Hound 1! Shepherd 1!" he screamed, but no one answered. "Shit!"

Without thinking, he turned around and started running, without minding Kagari's worried words. But then, a second scream was heard, this time from behind him. When he went back, Kagari was on the floor, clutching his side, while blood oozed from between his fingers. A man was running from the scene, but with no second to spare, Kougami unlocked his gun and let it judge. In miliseconds the man's trunk was turned into pieces.

Kougami called for help, while pressuring the wound. He cursed under his breath until a emergency robot came and he started the transfusion. Kagari cursed the pain, while the morphine didn't act in his system.

When the emergency arrived, the rest of the team was already there, with worried expressing marrying their faces. Kougami, however, kept his distance after Masaoka and Ginoza took care of the situation; his eyes kept traveling between Akane and Kagari, while his skin turned paler with every passing minute.

Akane could read in his face what his mind tried to hide: he was feeling guilty, guilty for letting once again a colleague get hurt. But, how could he think it was his fault? They were doing a job that always brought risks into their lives;_ it could be just easily him on that floor…_ That thought made her shiver with fear and shaking her head to get rid of those dark thoughts that liked to resurface in her mind during her sleeping hours…

The team watched the ambulance drive away with Ginoza and Kagari inside it. When only the Inspector and the Enforcers were on the place, Kougami turned around to look at Tsunemori.

"Why did you scream?" he asked, a cold feeling enveloping his words.

She looked back at him, flabbergasted.

"I didn't…" was her only answer and beside her Masaoka nodded his agreement.

"I heard you scream through my communicator…" Kougami insisted and Yayoi shook his head beside him.

"No one screamed… If someone did, all of us would have heard…" the black-haired woman said, with worry stretching through her expression. "Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you should see someone…" she advised, but the man scoffed at her words.

"Like a shrink? I don't think so, never did me any good… Or any of you for that matter… Or else we wouldn't be here…" and with that he turned around and walked towards the Enforcers' containing vehicle.

Akane watched him go, a dooming feeling at her gut, but with the presence of the others two she couldn´t run behind him and hug the man like she wanted.

"We should head back…" she said and Masaoka and Yayoi nodded and took Kougami's previous route, while the Inspector walked towards her own car.

That night he didn't come to her room, and even if Akane wanted to go and find him, she felt her mind reign over her heart for once when concerting Kougami and decided to let him be, for the moment.

Next day, however, when visiting Kagari she watched her lover exiting the infirmary.

"Kagari didn't hear anything too… So you were probably right, I'm turning into a lunatic after all…" he said, without anything as a hello.

"I never said anything like that… I'm just worried…" was her reply, while he took one of his cigarettes and lightened it, even when standing next to a sign prohibiting those actions.

"There it is again… That pitying look… How I hate when someone looks at me like that…" he said, the smoke surrounding him like mist and hiding his expression from her. "Do you know why I left Kagari alone? Because I heard you scream… Because I thought someone attacked you…"

"What are you trying to say? That it was my fault Kagari was hurt?" Akane asked, ready to take the blame if it brought her Shinya back.

"No! I'm trying to say it was my fault for evolving myself with someone like you! I can't do my job as it needs to be done if all I think is about your safety! For fuck's sake, I almost let Kagari die because of you! I didn't think twice, I just ran and let him there, like a pig in a slaughter! What kind of man does that make me?" he said, in furious whispering voice.

"Shinya… what are you trying to say?" she repeated her earlier question, feeling her heart sink with every words he said. It was like her entrails were being grabbed by an iron fist, squeezing and turning painfully.

"We can't continue like this… It's affecting our job! You can't deny it! I watched you during the last missions, you don't have your head in the game either!"

And her entrails disappeared with those words. She was left empty, her lungs no longer able of bringing oxygen into her brain to process that information. And then he turned his back at her and walked away, not once looking back. She felt her knees tremble and in the next second an acute pain when the floor meet her knees, but nothing could win over her vacant expression.

She saw him go, while her heart broke into a million pieces…

* * *

**Sorry... I know he was a jerk, but facing reality after their dream-like moments together was like a punch and Kougami is too focused to let his own happiness destroy someone else's life... **


	12. Chapter 11 Pain

**Chapter 11**

_**Pain**_

* * *

Kagari was bored. Kougami left the room fifteen minutes ago and he was already tired of those same walls. He wanted his games, he wanted to walk and he wanted a bottle of alcohol. Knowing the last one was still prohibited because of his medication, at least he could have the other two.

He knew his wound was nothing to play with, so getting up sluggishly and carefully, he walked towards the door the slowest he was able of. However, when opening the door he found a sight he could never imagine.

Tsunemori Akane, his gentle Inspector, was fallen on the floor, her face pale and her hands squeezing her scarf, while tears ran down her cheeks.

"Inspector!" he gasped, joining her on the floor and grabbing her hands.

Akane looked at him and with a vacant voice said "You shouldn't be out of your bed…"

Kagari shook his head, amused at her worry, and getting up with the help of the wall, he pulled her with him.

"Come in… Welcome to my grand new room..." he said, opening the infirmary door. Akane followed him without a complaint and that, more than anything, worried him.

He made her sit in a chair beside his bed, and while getting comfortable in the bed, watched her eyes spill the uncountable salty drops. He let her cry, the sobs racking his mind. He didn't know what would have hurt her like that, but he knew better than ask when she was this distraught.

"Here…" he said, when her sobs calmed down, extending her a handkerchief. She cleaned her cheeks and with a deep breath thanked his kindness. "Are you okay?" he asked, worried.

"I will be… please don't worry…" she said and closing her eyes for a moment she took another deep breathe. When she opened them again, a sad smile appeared in her lips. "And how are you, Kagari-san? Are you in pain?"

"I'm fine…" he said, noticing how the woman evaded his questions. Maybe he should act like nothing happened… "But I really want my games… This is so boring!" he whined and Akane smiled a little.

"Don't worry, I will go and get it!" she said and rising, exited the infirmary, unaware of Kagari's worried eyes following her.

When the woman returned, her arms were filled with all the technology in Kagari's room and he almost kissed her with his excitement.

Akane smiled that sad smile once again and bid her goodbye, promising to visit the next day.

Kagari saw her leaving, cursing to the depths of hell who or what upset her that way.

* * *

She didn't remember entering her room, however, when the dawn came she found herself in that same position Kougami found her after Yuki's death. She had to laugh at that irony, the man who helped getting her sense of life back was the same that now put her down with no second thought.

She wanted to go back on time and yell at him, or at least stop him from leaving before he explained what was going on. She wanted to kiss him and show him what he was doing was a mistake. But he just walked away from her, he left her there, broken, after all they shared in the intimacy of their bed.

She knew it wasn't only physical, she knew that what they shared went beyond what anyone outside of them could understand.

He was her savior and she was his savior. He saved her life and loved her when she needed the support, he showed how important she was to him, she learnt what love means with him. And while that, she gave him a life, a feeling of warm and care that were almost foreigner to him, she showed him how it felt to be cherished and not seen as a dog, but as a person, just like any other. And now all of that was over and she had to continue alone…

* * *

The next morning, Akane surprised everyone telling them she was going to return to her old house. Masaoka congratulated her at such a decision and Yayoi smiled supportively, while Ginoza nodded and shook her hand. The only person that didn't say anything was Kougami, but she was already expecting his cold demeanor. It took all her will to act all day like nothing had happened, but she was strong and she wouldn't let him see how hurt and miserable she was feeling.

Kagari congratulated her as well when she passed through the infirmary, her arms filled with new games she choose to help her colleague pass the time; it was a way of distracting herself from all the turmoil inside her mind.

"It's a pity I have to stay here for another two days, or we could make a party…" he said, pouting at the unfairness of the situation.

"I'm not going to leave the job, I'm just returning to my house…" Akane said, with an amused expression.

"I know, but we were all living under the same roof… I thought we could have a party with lots of alcohol in one of our rooms… C'mon, don't tell me you never wanted to visit an Enforcer's room?" he asked, with a grin and watched with horror her skin pale and the woman rising up without any notice. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable…" he yelled after her, but Akane never heard it, trying to fight the lump in her throat that his words created. She knew an Enforcer's room all too well, she knew where he liked to keep his jacket, ready to be taken quickly, she knew how he liked to take a shower with scalding water, she knew how he liked to touch her wet hair and how his moans felt so good in her ears…

"_Stupid, stupid, stupid_!" she yelled with herself, locked inside one of the bathroom of the floor.

When she felt her breathe normalize, the Inspector left the place and walked quickly towards her bedroom. Grabbing her things she almost flew to her car and then to her home.

When entering she remembered the last time she was there, with him…

Entering her room, she sat on the floor and grabbed a photo of Yuki and her and pressed it against her chest.

"What should I do? You were always the one to push me in the right direction… and now… I miss you so much Yuki…" Akane sobbed, feeling the tears run through her cheeks. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry!"

* * *

**I know this was really depressing, but I wanted to show the depth of their relationship... But don't worry, the action will start really quickly...**


	13. Chapter 12 Missing

**Chapter 12**

**Missing**

* * *

"She is late…" Kagari whined, turning from his computer screen to look at his colleagues. It was his first day outside the infirmary and Akane was not here to welcome him, like she had promised in her last visit.

"No, she is not, you are the one that came oddly earlier…" Yayoi replied from her post, a frown stretched over her features. "And here I was, expecting a calm morning…" she sighed, rubbing her temples in an exasperate gesture.

Kagari grimaced at her and looked at Masaoka, the old man shaking his head with amusement at the youngsters' antics. He was sad and happy, at the same time, with their presence. The sadness coming from the knowledge they would never be and have more than what they were and had in that moment and the happiness from knowing them in there and not in that prison they called containing unit.

However, when, after two hours the woman remained absent, the rest of the team joined Kagari in his worry.

"Maybe she is sick…" Yayoi suggested and Masaoka shook his head.

"She would have said something by now…" he replied and the woman frowned in worry.

"I tried contacting her, but she didn't answer…" Ginoza said, turning to his Enforcers with a grim expression. "Maybe her move to her house was harder than we thought…"

"But she already came after moving back…" Kagari said and, noticing one of his colleagues' silence, turned to Kougami. "Do you know something about her whereabouts?"

"Of course not, why should I? I'm not her body-guard!" he replied harshly and rising up, left the division.

"That one should have an etiquette lesson or at least see some comedy…" Kagari grumbled under his breathe, while Masaoka followed the black-haired man with his eyes, a deep frown marring his face. As a father he learned to read his son's expressions, even if the man as a boy tried to hide it behind a mask of blankness or a cold demeanor and with Kougami wasn't much different, he knew his colleague was suffering, and he had a special sense about what could be the cause of that feeling. A girl called Tsunemori Akane that probably had a much bigger impact in that man's life than anyone, including him, could imagine.

* * *

The training room echoed with his punches, his enemy already down on the floor. However, he kept punching over and over, his mind far away from that place. It was not the first time during those days he used the exercise room as a distraction. Every time he would think of her, of her smile, of her laugh, of the warm feeling she created in his chest, he was immediately brought into that fateful day when he did the most despicable thing. He remembered her pale complexion with vivid recognition, her wide and fearful eyes, the sound of her knees touching the floor that for him sounded more like gunshots. He was a bastard for doing that, he knew it, he deserved all the pain he provoked in her tenfold. But he couldn't keep doing that, he couldn't jeopardize her safety, her place in the Bureau, her respect, like he was doing for all those months. He had to make a clean break, no splinters to bring her hope, no splinters to make _him_ hope...

But it was in moments like those, when he wanted to call her and ask how she was, that he regretted his decision the most. But it was a decision he had to do; he was unable of working and worrying about her. If he was a second later Kagari could be dead and it would be his entire fault.

His sleepless nights, where he kept remembering her, were starting to take his toll on him and there was nothing he could do to stop that.

Even if Masaoka stopped him yesterday to ask what was wrong with him he couldn't confide his dark secrets to the old man, he would be ashamed of him, of his action that put in danger someone so innocent as Akane and the respect of that old wise man was one of the last things he cherished in his life. He noticed how the old Enforcer looked at him today after Kagari talked about Akane's absence: could he have found out about their secret relationship? If yes, the man was probably damning him to hell for his action towards the woman. But he never had another choice, he loved her, he cared so much for her, she was the one bringing him to the light once again when the darkness was already his home. And now… now he had nothing…

* * *

"She isn't answering..." Ginoza said when Masaoka asked if he had any news about Tsunemori.

Kougami heard it with a sense of fear gripping his heart and turning to look at Masaoka noticed the man's piercing eyes hovering over him. He swallowed hard and turned to his computer once again, without really seeing any of what was in there. His mind was far away, trying to calm himself down before he started punching everything like he did in the training room…

"Look!" Kagari said from nowhere, grabbing everyone's attention and pointing to an incoming email that appeared in all the screens, a red light and the letter P around the signal showing it as public and important information.

Kougami's eyes focused in the screen in front of him and watched the small signal in the corner notifying him.

"I didn't received any news about a public email." Ginoza said, opening it with trepidation.

The video was dark, a city appearing behind the person in front of the camera. Whoever it was had a dark bag over the head, hiding its identity.

Someone came from behind the prisoner, the camera only showing his torso. Grabbing the bag the newcomer took it out and Kougami felt his lungs collapse when in the forefront of the video appeared the bruised and unconscious face of Tsunemori Akane.

* * *

**So, I made a mistake with the chapters, sorry, and I posted the next instead of this one... oops...**


	14. Chapter 13 Escape

**Chapter 13**

**Escape**

* * *

"Come and get her!" the man said, his voice echoing all over the empty place.

Kougami stepped back, deaf to his colleagues shouts and rapid calls.

Ginoza yelled different orders, while the Enforcers readied themselves to search for Akane, using the video signal and the small parts they could see of the place behind her.

"Let's go!" Ginoza said to Kougami, making the man jump from his stupor. He looked around, ready to run when Ginoza told him to follow him.

"Where are we going?" Kougami heard his voice ask, without any conscience level.

"We are going to see the Inspector's house. Maybe we can find some trail of her captors!" the glasses user said, while opening the building door for them.

Kougami followed him, creating his own plan in his mind. He knew where she was, he knew that place like the back of his hand. The only problem was how to get there, but then Ginoza gave him the solution by taking him outside. It was his only obstacle -_ the doors of the bureau under heavily surveillance, the doors an Enforcer could only exit with an Inspector_. He knew after his escape he would be seen as a criminal under a jail sentence, but he also knew she was taken because of him and he would gladly give his life to save hers. He just hoped Ginoza wouldn't be too hurt because of another of his mistakes, in that field he counted with Masaoka's wisdom to help their team and Akane, after he saved her.

* * *

The car ride was tense and the slowest he ever had. Shinya couldn't stop himself from tapping his knee repeatedly, until Ginoza looked at him with a comprehensive expression.

"We are going to find her. We have the best resources…" Gino said, trying to pacify his old friend. What the man didn't know was that Kougami Shinya had all the intention of finding his secret lover, even if that put everything he had in danger.

"Inspector!" Masaoka's voice echoed through the car when the Inspector accepted his call.

"Did you find anything?" Ginoza asked and Kougami looked at him attentively.

"No, but I think it's important for you to know that this isn't a video recorded… it's live…" the old man said, and in the back they could hear grunts and the sounds of someone beating another one. Kougami fisted his pants under his hands and had to suppress the wave of rage that took care of him. He could barely conceal the hatred in him without knowing what was going on, but hearing her suffer like that made it unbearable.

"The Miss is awake and she is strong, she is not letting him win over her!" Masaoka said, but the both of them could hear the fear barely hidden in his voice. "He left her alone…" he sighed.

And then they heard it clearly "_I'm waiting for you in your favorite place…_"

Kougami had to stop himself from gasping. Until then he didn't have time to think about that place, but now, the doubts came to him. From his words he knew it wasn't a coincidence, Makishima knew how important that place was, how important Akane was… He probably followed them without their notice and heard their entire conversation and saw their kisses and touches and their intimate moments…

* * *

Tsunemori's house appeared in front of them in the next second, stopping Ginoza from wondering aloud what the captor might mean with his cryptic words.

When they entered the place, after Ginoza opened the door with the information given by the Bureau, they immediately separated themselves to search for any clue. Kougami directed himself towards the bedroom, where he knew he could escape through the window. He could hear Ginoza roaming around, analyzing the place and while opening the window, by hand, not using the house command, he kept making noises with his feet, like he was searching behind her bed and walking through the room. When the window opened he jumped through it, falling silently over the tips of his toes. _And then, he ran_. He ran like there was no tomorrow, like his all life depended of that, as it actually did… because she was his life and he was a moron for letting her go…

Thanking the gods how close her house was to the tower while running, he left his communicator behind, not wanting to be found and putting her life in danger. He knew Makishima wanted him alone and if he noticed any strange vehicle approaching he could end her life, like he did with her friend. And then, the image of her emotionless body appeared in his mind and he felt his legs gaining a new bust of power.

He could imagine Gino's voice calling him and then his frenetic voice through the communicator to inform of his escape. Would he think he had something to do with Akane's disappearance so he could have a way to escape or would he think it was only a coincidence and that he used what the destiny gave him? He just hoped the higher bosses wouldn't be too rough with his team and in that moment he regretted not leaving some kind of explanation behind, but now was too late: the building arose in front of him, his grandiosity hidden behind a cover of ruin and oldness.

He stopped, taking a second to regain his breathe. Looking up, he measured the height in an analytical way for the first time. Until now, this place only held good memories: the times he spent here looking over the city, dreaming about a good future and then those sweet moments when he shared it with Akane. But now, it was nothing more than a battlefield, a battlefield ready to be taken under his control. He had no plan B, no strategic escape; he only had his life and the will to save another, much more important than his own.

"Akane, just hang on a little more, I'm coming to get you!" he whispered, running inside the building.


	15. Chapter 14 Sacrifice

**First, I want to thank my wonderful beta Destinies Entwined (You are the best!) for helping me in this chapter. This is the first one with my beta, so it will be easier to read than the others...**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

_**Sacrifice**_

* * *

He stepped out of the stairwell, his steps echoing through the empty space. There he saw her, fallen, blood oozing from her head. And he ran… _he ran like a devil ready to strike anyone that tried to stop him._

"AKANE! AKANE!" He yelled, approaching the girl and kneeling beside her. The desperate enforcer cradled her in his arms and held the unconscious inspector against his body. He could feel her heart beating against his chest and he almost laughed in relief. However, when he lifted his gaze and saw the man, laughter was the farthest thing from his mind. He felt a rage like never before invade his senses. It was like all his being wanted was to kill, to slice and rip though him… He dared hurt his love; a woman so innocent and pure that he was always afraid of tainting her in some way. He had the nerve to touch her soft skin with those hands! He had to die!

"You…" Kougami growled, placing Akane's body gently on the floor. He touched her hair one last time and stood up.

The man's green eyes shone and he handled his shotgun with the care someone would give his most loved child. Behind him, his robotic dogs sat, like statues, ready to pounce under his slightest command.

* * *

"He knows him!" Kagari yelled, causing Shion slap him in the back of the head. She was observing the scene with analytical eyes, while her computer ran a diagnostic analysis of the building while simultaneously trying to locate the signal's source. "I wish we could see his face!" he grumbled, while the man in the video feed kept his back to the camera.

It was a surprise to everyone when Shinya appeared on the scene, running like a madman. They had received Ginoza's notice about his escape and even if they knew that they should be searching their former colleague they couldn't pry their eyes from Tsunemori.

"What?" Yayoi whispered, when they heard Kougami's yells and when they saw the way he acted around Akane. "He really loves her…No…they must have a relationship…a secret one," the enforcer whispered. Behind her, the blonde nodded like she knew it all along, her lips frowning in worry. It took only a second for Shion to know about Akane's kidnapping and only another to run into their office after Ginoza and Kougami left.

"They were luring him," Masaoka surmised, his eyes downcast. "Makishima is behind this: The train incident, the Missy's friend's death, her kidnapping… It was all to destabilize him. Now, after finding out about their relationship, they used her as the last nail in his coffin," the elder enforcer said gloomily.

"Don't say stuff like that! We will find them! And we will save them!" Kagari yelled in an offended voice. Beside him Yayoi nodded, her fists white with tension.

The female Enforcer walked from her original place, sat over at Kougami's desk and opened his files on his tablet with a touch of her finger.

"What are you doing?" Kagari asked, turning around to watch her, while Masaoka contacted Ginoza to tell him about the latest developments.

"Kougami knew where Tsunemori was, that's how he ran away and he also knew that they were waiting for him. So it has to be a place that he knows about, that has some kind of significance to him. I believe he probably visited it before and probably with Tsunemori, that's why they choose it: to torture both of them with their happy memories," Yayoi explained, while opening every photo, every file and network connection Kougami had in his computer.

"We should cross the info in Kougami's computer with Tsunemori's documentation, travels, cases, anything like that," Shion suggested, sitting in Akane's chair and mimicking Yayoi's gestures. The two women smiled at each surreptitiously and nodding started their work together.

"_I won't fail you, Kougami! Not after what you did for me!" _Yayoi promised to herself, searching furiously for any kind of lead, while, far away in her mind, a woman's voice, from three years ago, sang in a clandestine club.

* * *

Kougami was sweating, his attention shifting from the robotic dogs to the man holding a shotgun, to a nearby balcony and then to the door he just entered through. He had to find a way out; he had to find a way to get her out!

"Where is Makishima?" Kougami asked, trying to distract him while he kept running ideas through his mind.

"So you know, Makishima-san is most pleased about your intelligence. It's a pity it will end today. Just like they used to say in the old days, all good things must come to an end," he said with a smile, stretching in such an unnatural way that gave Kougami goosebumps.

Behind the hunter, the dogs stood up, their metal jaws opening like they could already feel the flesh between their teeth.

"She doesn't have anything to do with this!" Kougami said, pointing to Tsunemori and the hunter laughed.

"Don't worry, my hounds are well taught!" he replied, as the dogs stalked slowly towards Kougami. He looked towards Akane, imprinting her image in his mind one last time, and looked up towards his pursuers.

Then he was off and running and the dogs gave chase.


	16. Chapter 15 The fall of the veil

Chapter 15

The fall of the veil

* * *

"_Are you satisfied?"_ she heard someone ask, the voice too far away for her to totally comprehend what was going on.

_"__Yes, most satisfied… Even being a third party, seeing my experiments work like that is like a feeling a child would give to a parent, I would imagine…"_ another man answered and the woman ordered her brain to start working again.

"_Did you change the game to help him win?"_ the first one asked and the second laughed and then another noises entered her brain, noises that looked like running and yelling and exploding things.

"_I just gave him some clues of how to play hide and seek…"_

"_Does he have the means to destroy my dogs?"_

"_Let's see how resourceful Kougami can be…"_

_Shinya! They are talking about Shinya! Get up, c'mon, get up! Fight! _the woman tried to command herself, but her head ringed like someone had used it as a ram, and she could feel a warm liquid falling from her temple. The darkness was taking care of her once again, _but this time she had to fight!_ _This time she had something else to fight for… Kougami Shinya…_

* * *

Kougami was running, the dogs chasing him like the hunters they were. He quickly took the stairways to the next and last level of the building, while cursing under his breathe against his small ammunitions to match the dogs. Before leaving the car, Ginoza gave him two electrifying sticks, just as precaution, since they didn't knew what would be inside, waiting for them. In that time he thought they were enough to hurt, in a small level, who did that to Akane, but while running away he couldn't stop berating himself for his naivety.

He could feel the vibration, under his feet, that the dogs' pawns were doing when touching the ground. He looked around, in the large and abandoned place and that was when he saw it: an old scaffolding still attached to the wall. He ran towards it and jumping over the steps was able of creating some distance between him and the hounds… at least until they started pushing and biting the metal structure, making it shook under his body. He looked around one last time when he felt the structure reaching its limit and saw a solution for one of his problems.

Jumping to the floor and running the quickest he could, he grabbed one of the electrifying sticks, turning it on. Feeling the dogs run right behind him, he ran over a huge puddle of water, covering a majority of the north part of the floor, thanks to a broken window. When he felt the dogs over the water, Kougami sent the stick to the ground, letting the water electrify those damned things.

He ran, without looking behind, towards the lower floor. He had to get her out of there; he had to defeat that man in any possible way. But, when the Enforcer reached the floor, the _two_ persons there made him stop dead in his track. When Kougami left there was just one, but now… He would recognize that white color anywhere. He could feel his heart hammering inside his chest, the blood racing through his ears.

"You can come in, Kougami-san. I think your girlfriend is waking up..." the white haired man invited, without turning.

"Don't touch her!" Kougami yelled, making the man chuckle.

"I never thought a girl like her could raise such feelings in a man like you..." Makishima said, while Kougami approached the group slowly. He could see Akane through the gaps of the men's legs, her body restless, just like when she tried to wake up in the morning.

"You know nothing about her!" Kougami whispered venomously, kneeling beside her to touch her cheek. He hated showing such weakness in front of his enemy, but for her… _for her safety_… he would do anything.

"You are a sick bastard, making people kill for you! Is that the only way you can get excited? If it is, there were great shrinks out there, but now is too late, and your only fate is destruction." Kougami said, taking the Dominator from his pants and praying Ginoza didn't cancel his authorization to use it. He pointed it at Makishima, deciding to end the biggest threat first. He could hear his blood running towards his brain. He could feel every corner of the gun pressed against his hand and he could feel the trigger behind his finger. And then he pointed it and the gun failed him. The numbers were so low, it was like he was an innocent child, but… _it couldn't be!_ This man was a murderer! A beast disguised as a man. He had to die, _but the numbers_... And he pointed it to the hunter's head, and the numbers rose like crazy, and before he could wrap his mind around the reality of what was going on, the half robot was disappearing in front of him, disintegrated with just the click of a finger. But the other was still there, observing, with curious eyes, while the scene developed in front of him. Kougami locked his eyes with him, watching while the man stepped forward, slowly, observing the fallen one with a smile.

"Enforcer Kougami Shinya…" Makishima whispered softly, cocking his head to observe him from another angle. "It's been a pleasure playing with you…" and he laughed, the loud sound echoing through the empty place.

"_What_ are you?" Kougami asked, feeling the weight of the Dominator in his hand and knowing it was useless.

"A human, just like you and your lover…" he said, pointing with his head to Akane, still on the floor. Kougami moved to hide her from his view and he laughed again.

_That laugh… it hurts my head and my heart… It's like it resonates inside me like an earthquake, terrifying and demolishing… C'mon, I have to open my eyes… They drugged me, but I'm stronger than this… I can fight it… Shinya is waiting for me… C'mon, Akane, open your eyes… Remember his face… his smile… Everyone's smiles when you went back… Yuki's smile when you accepted being her friend… Fight… Fight… FIGHT!_

Akane gasped for air and jumped from her fallen position, almost bumping against someone else's back. She looked around the dark and dusty place and, turning around, she found the dumbstruck face of Kougami Shinya centimeters from hers.

"You're okay…" he breathed in relieve and she circled his neck with her thin arms. He answered her hug and, for a millisecond, they forgot the situation they were in… until a voice immerged through their relieve-induced gaze.

"So lovely… Emotions are really a wonderful thing to be hold… especially love…" Makishima said and Akane looked at him with angry eyes. He was not there when the hunter brought her in, but in her fuzzy mind, she could remember hearing his voice and she didn't need to be a genius to know who he was…

Kougami looked at her and nodded with his head, confirming her suspicions.

"I was just saying how joyful this game has been… You make excellent players…" he commented, in a light tone. "But, returning to your question, Enforcer Kougami… I'm a human… a special one at that… but merely a human…"

"What the hell do you mean with that?" Kougami growled, feeling Akane's cold skin, under his fingers, trembling.

"Do you know who created the Sybil System?" he asked and the couple shared a look.

"It was a team of criminal investigators, that with the help of scientist studied the parameters of thousands of criminals to find their shared trademarks, be it biological or behavioral. And after that used their knowledge to create the Dominators, where those parameters were incorporated…" Tsunemori answered, her voice stoic even when her head started throbbing again.

"It's good to see our educational resources are being well spent… it's a pity that that information is wrong in its essence…" Makishima said, smiling at Akane's affronted expression. "Let me tell you a story about a man and his son, a boy that liked to watch butterflies squirm and thought the fact extremely fascinating, in a world where the people's souls were being slowly taken away…" and with that, his voice changed, like a story teller and Shinya and Akane couldn't stop the shared look that spoke without words that they were going to find the true story of Makishima Shogo.


	17. Chapter 16 The story of the white color

Chapter 16

The story of the white color

* * *

"_Once upon a time, lived a man, a bright and cold man, that wanted to understand all the order in the world and command it, play with it according to his demeanor… This man had a son, the only boy in that house, since his wife died at childbirth, or so, he told his son…_

_The boy was a curious little thing. He liked to catch butterflies and other bugs in traps and watch while they squirmed to free themselves and save their lives. He liked to think about what those mindless beings thought about in their last moments and if they knew what was going to happen with them… If they believed in Heaven and Hell or if their brains only let them have survival and reproductive instincts…_

_He wondered if the animals were able of seeing the danger in front of them when the threatening things looked like they posed no threat… Would they surrender their battler armor and forget all about their primary instinct "_everyone but you is a danger"_?_

_The father noticed how his son's personality developed into something he thought rather remarkable, not for a loving son, but for a specimen to be studied… _

_It was not the first time, the father, or better said, the scientist, tried to create a way to read people's mind and find their inner desires using his diverse equipment and psychological knowledge. But for the first time, seeing how his son's mind started evolving into something he thought as rather close to a sociopath, he felt compelled to advance and try his inventions on his own kin. _

_For long months, the boy spent his days inside his father's laboratory, with five other lowlifes animals the scientist captured during the night: a rapist, a murderer, a robber, a man that beat his wife and a pedophile. The boy observed those individuals with a detached expression, not scared in the least of what they might do to him… in the end they were all chained and he was free to run from them…_

_But what made him return everyday was the curiosity in seeing how danger looked, what could make someone fall under the spell of tranquility and let those beings reach their body and mind… He wanted to know how people trusted in others and why they did that, when such dangerous beings walked among them…_

_However, his father's job was discovered before it was fully developed… _

_An old colleague of him, in which he naively confided, talked with the Health and Safety Bureau and presented the idea as being his and the father of the boy as a burglar that stole it from his office. _

_The scientist tried to say the truth, tried to show the security staff that it was not ready, that the final peace, the one that impulsed him through his work was not taken into account, that his son was special and that he was the last thing to make the _Analyzers_, as he called them, perfect. However, no one listened. They took his work away and researched a team to end it and put it into practical use. _

_No one ever thought about the son and what the old man meant with making the equipment perfect. It was already perfect; they saw how all the criminals fell under its power and smiled at finding such a powerful, yet simple, thing to keep society under control._

_No one saw the boy after his father was taken away and no one ever worried about him._

_A few years later, when a curious woman reached the top of the Bureau and read about the real creator of the system, she understood what no one else could. She knew that man and she knew that boy. She knew him from the first time he looked at her, with cold eyes that no child should have and how she saw a beast and not a baby staring back at her. _

_And when an Enforcer was killed and a photo found in his phone that incredibly resembled the scientist, with her own traces in the mix, she realized what her former husband wrote in a letter all those years ago was truth: they didn't have a baby, they had a study case… a monstrous study case, her own Mr. Hyde to find and imprison."_

* * *

"Wait…" Kougami said, his mouth dry with all the knowledge. "Your father created the Sybil System to study you and your mother…" and then he shut his mouth, not sure if he understood correctly that part...

"Your mother is the president of the Bureau and she kept quiet all those years, even when everyone thought Shinya and Sasayama were insane for believing you existed…" Akane completed, her mind trying to wrap itself around all that insanity.

"I said you were really enjoyable to play, didn't I?" Makishima smiled, like a proud teacher.

"But how… how can your psycho-pass… you're a murderous bastard!" Kougami growled, while his hand tried to move the Dominator to distract the man.

"I don't know, I was always like this… That is the missing piece of the perfect Dominator… the missing link that can find all the rare kinds and judge them like normal criminals… that reads through their mind like a human, that feels rather than analyses… For you I'm a criminal… for me, I'm only ensuring people return to their old ways, the ways that permit them to realize the danger around them, that lets them judge their own lives and protect themselves, instead of letting metal beings control their destiny and choices… Tell me, Inspector, didn't you enjoy the nights you spent with the Enforcer? Didn't you enjoy how he touched you? And what would you think the Sybil System would say about that? Would it let you have you love affair like you did or would it cut it from you? Didn't you enjoy being able of taking the decision of staying with him? Don't you think other people deserve that as well?" Makishima said, and Kougami felt Tsunemori tense under his hands. He felt his stomach recoil when she opened her mouth to answer, since he already knew what her answer would be.

"Yes, I enjoyed making that decision; I will never regret choosing Shinya. And other people deserve that freedom as well, but not as you are doing... _never as you are doing_!" she said and Kougami felt his lips turn upward in a smug grin.

"Such a pity…" Makishima sighed and then, from nowhere, they heard the scrap of metal against the floor and one of the metal dogs appeared through the door.

Kougami cursed under his breathe. He thought those damn things were both out, but apparently, one of them was tougher than he assumed. Probably only a small quantity of electricity touched his body, leaving his main board intact. Feeling the extra electrifying stick in his pocket, he took it out subtly and put it inside Akane's jacket. She looked at him surprised, but, seeing his strong demeanor, kept quiet.

The Enforcer rose and parted from the Inspector. She tried to follow him, but he pushed her towards the floor, making her back fall against the hard stone and the air being stolen from her lungs.

"I'm sorry… _I love you_…" he said increasing the distance between them, before the hound's body impacted with his own, making them fall through the balcony, towards the open sky.


	18. Chapter 17 Under her own conditions

**Chapter 17**

_**Under her own conditions**_

* * *

_She saw his body disappear through the balcony… she saw it falling without any kind of support… she saw his eyes observing her with such love and care… she screamed like a wild animal, her nails rasping against her chest, leaving red marks in her throat and a few drops of blood in her alabaster skin. She sobbed and punched the floor, until her hands were bloody, and then, she rounded on him and snarled. _

Akane rose, her knees shaking and started taking careful and deliberate steps towards the man that killed both her best friend and the man she loved above else.

* * *

"I found it!" Shion yelled, showing them the GPS tracking of Tsunemori's car and the old one from Kougami's. "When he was demoted, in that morning he was in here and recently Akane-chan as well." She said, smiling.

And then, they heard the voice of Makishima ending his story and the metal sound of something else entering the scene. Kougami's words sounded ominous, while he started backing away from Akane and when the metal beast appeared and made a suicidal dash towards the window with Kougami's body, the silence fell over them like an oppressive blanket, only permeated by Tsunemori's cry.

"No..." whispered Kagari, his eyes glued to the screen_. It couldn't be! Kougami couldn't be... It had to be a lie, a fake footage from Makishima to despair them_.

Yayoi suppressed a sob with the back of her hand, while Tsunemori's desperate shrieks kept resounding around them. Masaoka surrounded the girl's shoulder with his arm, letting her cry against his chest, while he barely suppressed his own tears.

Shion, keeping some rationality, contacted Ginoza, letting him know what was going on with their colleagues. She heard the sharp intake of breathe from the other side and remembered how the two men used to be like brothers when they worked side by side as Inspectors.

"Send the team to that building. I'm reaching the bureau, but I will turn around." he said, cutting the call before she could say anything remotely sympathetic.

* * *

Her shaking fingers touched the gun near her body. She knew it belonged to the hunter, but he didn't need it anymore. And now, was her time to use it. It felt cold against her skin. She tried to grab it in a strike, to caught Makishima in surprise, but she never thought how heavy the gun could be. The white haired man only observed her with condescendence, keeping a stance similar to a curious observer.

Akane rose, the gun held with both of her hands. She pointed it towards the man, all the while repeating to herself that he killed her love, that he took her friend from her, that he hurt countless people with the only excuse of scientific curiosity. But her hands kept shaking, her breathing quickened and the gun kept slipping from her shaky fingers. She could hear Shinya's voice in her head, his whispered words of love and promises.

_"You believe that there is good in everyone. You have faith in a society that for me only looks as a theater show, following the orders given by someone else... It's so wonderful to see your eyes full of wonder..." he said, while she was talking about her life with her grandmother, how the woman taught her how to see beyond the glass people use to protect themselves._

_"You sound like Masaoka-san." she replied and he smiled, with a wistful expression._

She could hear those words now in her mind. He believed in her, he believed in her sense of justice, he believed in her goodness. And the Inspector wasn't sure she was ready to prove him wrong, even if that meant killing the man that took him from her. His faith in her was the only thing she kept of him, and Akane couldn't let that go, _not right now, not ever_.

She felt her finger press against the trigger when her arm lost the strength to support it, but feeling the sensitivity of the thing, she only had time to pull it up, targeting the ceiling when the shot echoed through the space and the bullet imprisoned itself on the roof. She looked to the ceiling with a shocked expression; it was the first time she held a gun like that and shot it. It was so different from the Dominator like the day from the night. Her fingers shook and her shoulder hurt with the impact, letting the metal slip through her hands.

The sound of the gun falling to the floor echoed through the empty space, the dust floating around it like a light rain. Tsunemori observed the metal thing with a detached curiosity, like she couldn't believe she held it mere moments ago and even, unintentionally, shot it.

Makishima held her under his eyes with a mix of surprise and disappointment.

"Such a pity, I thought after what happened with your lover you would forget all the self-imposed rules from the Sybil domination and would think with your own head and not a brainwashed vision…" he said, with a pitying tone.

Akane's expression hardened with his words and she was unable of holding her tongue.

"I thought with my own head. Shinya wouldn't want me to become a murderer because of him, he would be angry if I did that, and his faith in me is the only thing I have left…" she said, her voice wavering when mentioning his name. She felt the lump in her throat tighten, but the woman had to hold her emotions in check. She couldn't let that monster see her pain more than he already did; it was something personal, something so raw she had to keep it from everyone else… it was something between her and her love… and damn be her if that feeling was exposed like that in front of Shinya's murderer!

Makishima tsked and stepped forward, playing with his jacket's pocket. From inside, he took a shiny razor, the blade sharp and deathly against his pale hands. Tsunemori felt the hairs in the back of her head stand up and for some moments wondered, morbidly, if he was going to kill her with the same blade he used to kill Yuki.

She observed him walk towards her. She observed how his eyes jumped from her to the gun, on the floor, measuring the danger to his wellbeing. Akane smirked; she wouldn't shoot him, she had other way of taking care of him.

When the blade reached her skin, she jumped back, pulling the stick from her clothes and turning it on. Immediately an electrifying current ran through the object and the Inspector grabbed it more forcefully.

Makishima grinned and closing the distance between them, tried to slash her once again.

Akane was never really good in sports, but if there was one thing she prided herself in was her martial arts education. She had to thanks Kougami for that. After seeing him train in more than one occasion she asked him to teach her some things and was with a prideful emotion that she learned she was actually really good at it, using her small size and weight as an advantage.

She jumped and tried to attack with the electric stick, but the man was too quick, he could hop and bend like an animal in a battle and quickly her breathing started accelerating in an unbearable way. She could feel her limbs getting heavier and when his knee finally connected with her stomach, she felt herself fly against the wall. A warm liquid ran from the back of her head and with trembling fingers she touched the wounded area, bringing crimson digits before her eyes.

"Every game has an ending…" Makishima said, grabbing his blade once again and bringing it against her cheek. He drew it and a red line appeared beside her nose. She felt the cut and recoiled from the searing pain.

Makishima withdrew his arm to draw the blade through her body. Akane wanted to keep her eyes open, not wanting to let that man see her weakness, but then, she wondered if he was the person she wanted to have as a last image. _Of course not_, she replied mentally. And closing her eyes, she called to the forefront of her mind the soft texture of Shinya's lips and the warmness of his body; if she was going to die she would go according to her own conditions.

And then, before the cold metal could pierce her skin she heard a yell and a whoosh of air in front of her face. She opened her eyes and saw him…

Miraculously, he was there! He was back! Kougami Shinya was alive and in that moment was involved in a death or life fight with Makishima Shogo.

* * *

**He is back!  
**


	19. Chapter 18 The Next Phase

**Chapter 18**

_**The next phase**_

* * *

She could hear the men's grumbles and curses, while they traded punches and kicks, jumping and hoping to defend their weak spots. Seeing them fight, she realized Makishima didn't use all his strength against her, maybe trying to keep the fight more interesting to his own entertainment or just enjoying the way she was struggling with her body. However, facing Kougami he had to exploit all his knowledge and tricks to surpass a man that spent the last years training for this day.

She could see the light layer of sweat over Kougami's forehead and how Makishima's chest was waving much more than when they fought.

Akane wanted to jump over Makishima and help Shinya, but fearing distracting him and being a nuisance, kept her place on the sideways, ready to intervene if the situation arose. She still had the stick inside her hand and would make good use of it.

Kougami grumbled when Makishima's fist connected with his jaw, making blood ooze from his mouth. He spit it and backed away a few steps to clean his forehead.

Makishima smirked, but he also needed that space. Kougami was much better than he thought and if he wasn't careful he would lose to that Bureau dog.

When the two titans tackled each other, Akane heard through their grunts and curses sirens far away, but nearing with each passing second. Apparently, the two men heard that too, because they looked at the same time through the broken window and Makishima redoubled his efforts in trying to take Kougami down.

"Scared, Makishima?" Kougami replied with a grin, kicking the man in the ribs.

The other one scoffed and pushing the Enforcer, tried to run away from the scene. Tsunemori, seeing this opportunity to help, tackled his legs and used the electric stick to stop him. For some seconds Makishima convulsed, but while falling he grabbed the knife and during his seizure was able of pointing it towards Akane and pierce her stomach, making the woman let go of the stick. Makishima fell against the hard floor, feeling his limbs numb and some kind of darkness evolve his eyes, however, his smile didn't leave his face when he heard Kougami yell seeing Tsunemori's blood.

The white haired man tried to run, his legs still feeling the aftershock of the electric attack, while the Enforcer tried to stop the Inspector's bleeding. He smirked, knowing the puncture probably damaged the liver, knowing it would bring a lot of pain and a slow death.

Makishima tried to escape towards the exit, but hearing the running steps of the Inspectors and Enforcers, he had to ascend the stairs, until the upper levels, while thinking how he could flight from that place. It had no working elevators, the balconies were too high and he was tired, unless he could open one of the elevator's doors and descend through the ancient ropes, he was done. He knew his followers still had the means to create ruckus, but what assured him they would follow the plan after his death? But, if they didn't know about his death until it was too late… _they would fear his demeanor… they would follow his orders…_

He grabbed the phone from his pocket and writing a single word, he let it fall.

* * *

"Ko?!" Kagari yelled, when entering the division and seeing his colleague and Tsunemori.

"Quick! Call the medical support! I don't know if he punctured her liver, but she is losing too much blood!" Kougami screamed, and right behind Kagari entered two drones, ready to take care of Akane.

Kougami released her, against his wishes, but looking around realized Makishima's absence. He was so worried with her, he didn't hear him departing.

"Where is Makishima?" he asked Kagari and the young man shrug his shoulders. "Shit…" Kougami cursed.

"Don't lose yourself… Promise me…" Akane whispered, grabbing Kougami's arm. He looked at her, confused and then towards Kagari.

Sighing, he nodded, whispering "I promise…" and squeezed her hand.

"Come with me!" he ordered and Kagari ran behind him, not before he grabbed the electrifying stick. "Makishima can't be judged by the Dominator!" he informed, bypassing the crowd of Inspectors running through the door. Some of them tried to stop them, but Kougami and Kagari bumped through them and were able of taking the stairs toward the upper floors.

When they reached the last one, they found the white haired man sat against one of the walls.

"I always wondered why people like high places… Don't they realize it is a dangerous place? Or do they think the Sybil System can protect them even against their own stupidity?" Makishima wondered, out loud, like the two Enforcers were some kind of old friends of his.

"The building is surrounded. You have no place to go!" Kougami said, feeling some kind of morbid pleasure in seeing his enemy so clearly defeated. He wouldn't kill him, even if he could. He remembered Akane's words while he was hanging on the balcony, with his fingers only as the mean to reach her again. He heard her utter confidence in him, and now, that the places were reversed he couldn't let her faith in him be thrown away.

Kagari observed the man with wide eyes, not understanding how such a normal looking man could provoke all the damages he has done through the years. He looked like someone he could walk through in the street,_ if he could walk in the street_, not like a psychopath… Through his years in the Bureau he learned the outer image was not an indication of the person's psycho-pass, but it was the first time he met someone so evil and cruel, and at the same time, so peaceful looking… so clear…

Behind Kougami and Kagari, Ginoza and Masaoka emerged, both of them running through the stairs. The two men observed first the Enforcers, and then, the white haired man on the floor.

Ginoza walked forward, taking a pair of old looking handcuffs from his pocket. Since theirs would analyze Makishima's psycho-pass and classify it as normal, he had to resource to older ones, brought by Masaoka from their archives.

"Makishima Shogo, you are under arrest for kidnapping, murder, torture and criminal association with others assassins…" Ginoza said, and Masaoka couldn't suppress the longing from his younger days when the arrests were made like that, and not through the use of the Dominators.

When bringing Makishima, Ginoza noticed the man's phone on the floor and nodded towards Kagari to grab it. The younger man followed the instructions and touching the screen illuminated it, showing the messages menu.

"He sent something a few minutes ago…" Kagari said, touching the screen.

"What?" Masaoka asked, while his son pulled the murderer in front of him to start their descend.

"_Start_…" Kagari read and looking up, found the confused looks of three men and the grinning face of the fourth.

"Start what?" Kougami asked, turning to observe Makishima.

_"__The end of the world as you know it…"_


	20. Chapter 19 Uprising

Chapter 19

Uprising

* * *

Kougami was kneeling beside Tsunemori when they heard it, the commotion, the signal that something was not entirely right.

Ginoza kept his back turned to the couple, trying to give them some sense of privacy in a room full of people, or intending to hide his disgust towards their relationship, Kougami couldn't be sure which. Kagari, however, kept smirking towards Kougami, giving Akane sweeter smiles. She kept her eyes closed, while the morphine started taking effect.

"How?" she asked, feeling his presence beside her body.

"When I fell I was able of grabbing the next floor's balcony. I barely could stand supporting my weight, but then I heard a shot and it was like all my nervous terminations gained a new life and I was able of lifting myself… All I could think about was your safety…" Shinya whispered, feeling his chest constricted at those painful memories.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, when he touched her hair softly, letting the heat from his skin sip into her.

"For what?" he asked, feeling her cringe with pain. The robots had her wound already wrapped in gaze, and were giving her blood supplies, but while the morphine hadn't have its effect there was nothing they could do to stop the pain.

"It was my fault you got hurt… If I was a bit more careful… I heard them coming behind me... but I thought it was just someone jogging and then, when they grabbed me…" she tried to say, but a painful cough took over her body, stopping her words.

"It was nobody's fault… Well… if it is someone's… it is mine… I'm the one they were after… I'm the one that left you in pain, that day, because of a stupid decision…" Kougami whispered, feeling her cheeks under his fingers.

"I've been thinking about that…" she replied, knowing he wouldn't keep trading blaming parts with her, when she was going to give a different sense about what happened. "You heard me yelling, but I didn't, and I don't believe you are turning insane…"

"At least, no more than I already am…" he said, trying to make her smile and succeeding in some degree: it was not her normal smile when he joked, it was a bit painful and regretful, but he could feel the love and faith she had in him transmitted by the gesture.

"Well, what if it was Makishima's doing? He probably saw us in here and was probably curious about what lengths you would go to save me…" Tsunemori explained and Kougami nodded, thinking about that possibility. It was possible; someone observing him would understand that for him to run and leave one of his friends behind, unprotected, he had to have strong feelings for that woman... and since he already knew about their secret meeting in this building...

When he was going to reply his concordance, Masaoka appeared, with Yayoi running behind him, both wearing worried expressions over their faces. The rest of the team could hear, behind the two of them, yelled orders and angry shouts, people running and a general commotion that didn't left any space to doubts: Makishima's words were truer than they wanted to believe.

"Makishima was taken to prison, but we just received the information that the entire city is insane… People are running and shouting… There are murderers happening in broad day light, without the scans noticing anything abnormal until it happens and the mob goes crazy…" Yayoi said, quickly, while Masaoka whispered something quickly to Ginoza.

Ginoza looked surprised towards the older man, and then, changing his eyes towards the secretive couple, sighed.

"Is it true the Bureau President is Makishima's mother?" Ginoza asked and Kougami and Tsunemori raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"How do you know that?" Akane whispered and Kougami's expression changed from surprised to understanding.

"The camera…" he said to her, but her expression didn't change. "They were recording while… hurting you… They sent that to our central computer… That's how I knew you were there…" Shinya explained further and Akane nodded thoughtfully.

"So, they kept shooting even when I arrived?" Kougami replied and Yayoi nodded.

"Of course, why do you think we weren't shocked by your reproachful relationship with our innocent Inspector? She was so innocent! You tainted her!" Kagari said, faking tears while using a moaning voice.

Kougami scowled at him, and turned toward Masaoka to show him he should keep informing them and ignoring Kagari. The light brown haired one scoffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"There's not a lot to know… The Unit two and three are going to the streets… They said we should go back to the Bureau… The missy is hurt and the bosses want to interview her and Kougami…" Masaoka said, his expression doubtful about this last part.

Before Kougami could ask what was on the older man's mind, a unit entered to transport Akane into the ambulance and everything erased from Kougami's mind, seeing her being taken away. He scowled and growled towards the doctors that tried to stop him from accompanying her, until Ginoza nodded his approval with a hint of reproach.

While driving through the city, the medics pointed towards the diverse mobs and ruckus appearing in different parts of the city, until Kougami made them shut up, seeing how that information was making Akane paler with each passing second.

"I want to know…" she whispered, grabbing his sleeve, but he shook his head.

"You're wounded; you shouldn't have stayed such a long time in that floor. You lost too much blood and the painkillers will wear off quicker than you realize…" Shinya said, the creases between his eyebrows deepening.

Tsunemori raised a weak arm and smoothed his forehead's skin, letting it fall against the mattress when she lost her strength. Kougami smiled sadly and grabbed her small hand between his two bigger ones.

They took her to surgery immediately after reaching the medical aisle of the Bureau Building, leaving Kougami outside, pacing back and forth, like a caged animal that, in essence, he was. The corridor seemed too small and the air too thin. He was starting to lose his control when Ginoza appeared, walking swiftly through the white space.

"We have problems…" Ginoza said, when he approached the Enforcer.

Kougami braced himself for the news, knowing that from Gino's face, he was going to be incredible pissed off.

"Makishima ran away. The containing transportation was attacked by a mob and the Inspectors killed… Makishima was able of running away… But that's not only that… the crimes, the murders are not being detected by the scans because of some kind of helmet they are using… We still don't know how they are doing it, but even during the crime their Psycho-pass keeps clean… The higher ones changed their minds and they want all the Units outside…" Ginoza said and Kougami understood what he was saying.

"I have to leave her…" he replied, scoffing at the words.

The Inspector nodded and waited for Kougami to follow him.

"Am I going to receive updated info about her?" he asked, receiving only silence as an answer. So, he kept silence and immobile, until he got the answer he wanted.

The bespectacled man sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I will let the medical team know they should send updated reports to your communicator…" Ginoza said, the tension in his shoulders stronger than ever.

Kougami knew he was being immature, he knew people needed his help, but none of those persons ever done anything to help him, none of them accepted him as an equal… _except her…_ And acting childish or not, he would keep himself informed about her state and those medics be damned if she got out with any kind of pain!

He followed Ginoza outside the building, taking the Enforcers' Transportation and finding Kagari, Masaoka and Yayoi expecting him.

"How is she?" Masaoka asked softly, touching Kougami's shoulder supportively.

"In surgery, but I made Ginoza make the team send me updates about her situation to my communicator…" he informed, not hiding a small smug smile.

Kagari snickered, but when the car started moving he fell silent; all of them could feel the tension in the closed space: they didn't know what they would find in the city, they could imagine and remember the early scenes they saw, but now, that the mobs started dispersing the real damage would show.


	21. Chapter 20 Aftereffects

**Chapter 20**

_**Aftereffects**_

* * *

The city looked like a ghost town. Cars were parked indiscriminately, smoke floating from their motors or from the fires inside the buildings. The robots were putting down the flames when the Enforcers and Inspector Ginoza stepped out of their transports.

"Wow, this looks like a zombie Armageddon…" Kagari commented, kicking a trashcan still smoking.

"And they call us criminals…" Yayoi said, observing with veiled eyes the remains of the scene: the blood, the dead bodies being carried away and some witnesses crying and whimpering, while sitting against the buildings.

Ginoza looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself, choosing to walk around the place, instead. The Enforcers could see him talking with a small girl that apparently was rescued from under one of the smoking cars. They couldn't hear what they were saying, but Ginoza's grave expression and his tense nods told them it was no good. Only when Kougami's communicator biped, did they take their eyes from the two persons.

**_Inspector Tsunemori Akane is out of surgery. The blade punctured the liver, but the quick medical support kept her from being at risk. The patient will be transferred in one hour to her room: 2204. Visit hours: 11-13h and 15-17h, unless being the principal caretaker which will be permitted to accompany the patient all day._**

Kagari read aloud the message over Kougami's shoulder, so Masaoka and Yayoi could hear too.

"Well, what are you going to do? Say you are her husband and keep her under surveillance 24/7?" the light brown haired man sniggered and Kougami scoffed, thinking how hard it would be to convince the doctors about that reality…

"Enforcers, we have work to do! Separate into pairs and search this area…" Ginoza said, returning to their side and sending a map to their communicators. "Blue area, Kougami and Yayoi-san, Red area Masaoka-san and Kagari and I will stay in the Yellow area with the robots… Your mission is to find any threat and eliminate it, as well as help any injured ones…" the Inspector said and the team went their separate ways, their Dominators ready beside them, as well as the electrifying sticks, in case the first ones didn't work like the street scanners.

"What do you think about those helmets?" Kougami asked, while walking through a dark alley, Yayoi backing him up.

"I watch the videos while you were at the hospital… It's horrible… People just stood there, watching… Someone was killed in front of them, for crying out loud and they stood there!" Yayoi said, her heart hammering inside her chest with the unfairness of the situation.

"And they call us criminals…" Kougami echoed her previous words, knowing it was what she was feeling. "What were the first crimes committed that way… before the riots?" he asked and Yayoi stopped.

"Do you think the first ones will give us a clue at how the helmets work?" she asked and he nodded.

"In the firsts, I bet there wasn't such confusion, so we can analyze their actions easier…"

Yayoi hummed under her breathe, recalling the report they read while waiting for Kougami to come from the hospital.

"Well, the first one was in a pharmacy, a crime of occasion, while the second was the attack to a woman in the middle of a crowd." Yayoi said and Kougami grumbled under his breath, while looking behind a dumpster.

"Hum, the first one looks like an experiment, but the second one... This person could have chosen any individual, why that woman? Could they have any kind of connection?" he wondered under his breath, cursing when a stray cat jumped from an alley.

"When we return we should see if we can find anything about that woman. Probably the pharmacy was just a test to try it out." Kougami said out loud and Yayoi smirked.

"Shion is already researching the woman. You are not the only latent criminal around here, you know?" Yayoi replied, and Kougami shook his head with amusement.

A couple of silent minutes stretched in front of them, until Kougami sighed and said. "You can ask it..."

"How did it pass through your mind that the two of you could keep a relationship? Did you forget the first rule they taught us? **_Any derivative conduct from an Enforcer concerning an Inspector will cease the contract between the Bureau and the latent criminal, sending him or her back to the Containing Unit_**." Yayoi said, her voice mechanical, quoting word by word what, for the first months, she always heard from her superiors.

"You wouldn't understand." Kougami grumbled and turning his back on her, walked back towards their meeting place. "That was the end of our area." After two minutes of silent walking he said "_I love her_." and he tensed, his shoulders showing that any kind of response was not welcome right now.

Yayoi sucked in a gush of breathe, surprised at his personal confession, the man she always thought would never be able of letting someone walk into his life and have an effect over his heart. He really did love her, she could see it now. The way his body acted around her, how he looked drawn to her… Even during their work, before all this mess, if she had been observant enough, she would have noticed their body language… but never in a thousand years she would think it was necessary to observe their relationship… if only she knew…

* * *

"Hey… how are you?" Shinya asked, when her eyelids opened completely and she smiled at him.

"Good…" she answered, noticing the dark shadows under his eyes. "Better than you, apparently…"

He shook his head, minimizing his own aspect and touched her body softly, feeling the bandages under his fingers.

"It doesn't hurt and in two, three days I will be able of going home…" Akane said, a bit impatient at his worry over her making him forget his own wellbeing.

He tsked, noticing her expression, but choose not to chase the matter, knowing it would only create an argument between them.

"Did you find out anything about the riots?" Akane asked and Kougami sighed at the change of topic, informing her how they found out the criminal was stalking the woman he killed and how they used Kougami's psycho pass to arrest him.

"So, those helmets copy another person's psycho pass…" Tsunemori wondered, after Kougami's narration. "It's like they took Makishima as an example…" and she gasped, understanding the implications. Kougami nodded, showing his concordance.

"Yes, it was probably Makishima that created those things and gave them away… just as a way to show how fragile our society is…" he said.

"And to destroy it…" Akane completed, feeling a shiver ran through her body at those words.

* * *

**So, I didn't put the part about arresting the criminal, because it would be just like in the anime - I really liked those scenes and wouldn't want to change them... **


	22. Chapter 21 Distrust

**Chapter 21**

_**Distrust**_

* * *

"There has to be a way of us finding where Makishima is!" Kougami was yelling with Ginoza, while the other Enforcers merely observed that tennis-like match.

"And what do you think we are doing? Do you think we are merely letting him walk free?" Ginoza replied, feeling the fury rise inside him.

"Well, it looks like it… You are nothing more than the lap dog of that woman… and we all know why she wouldn't want him in jail… A son condemned as a murderer wouldn't go well with her self-respect image…" Kougami answered back, his fists trembling beside his body.

Ginoza opened his mouth to answer, when the door behind them opened and a wheeled woman entered, grabbing the attention of everyone in that room.

"_What the hell are you doing here?_" Kougami yelled again and she arched her eyebrows in a challenging way.

"Why are you yelling? I could hear you from the hallway…" she said, and Kougami breathed deeply, while pinching his nose.

"Did they release you already, Missy? I thought they wanted to keep you two more days…" Masaoka intervened, trying to stop a cataclysm from happening.

"I'm perfectly fine and they realized that as soon as I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the room…" and then, as an after-thought, she completed. "But then, they gave me this wheelchair, probably to make someone that I know, a bit more comfortable with my release…" and she looked towards Kougami with a meaningful look, making Kagari laugh and Yayoi and Masaoka smile softly. Only Ginoza and the target of her words kept their stone crafted expressions.

"Inspector, I think you should be more careful with the way you talk with the Enforcer, just like the Enforcer Kougami should show more respect toward his superiors…" Ginoza said, an icy undertone in his formal voice. Akane looked at him, blushing, and apparently, for the first time, noticed that she was not alone with Kougami. The Enforcer however scowled and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"If they want to punish us for our relationship, then the public will have a busy day knowing who Makishima's mother is… Do you think they would keep trusting a woman that abandoned her own son, helping in some way in the creation of the monster we all know?" Kougami said, with his brows raised and an angry expression over his face.

Ginoza palled and for some moments looked toward Masaoka. His father was observing the scene with a sad expression, his hands inside his pockets and his eyes veiled. Ginoza sighed, knowing that, in the end, a radical decision concerning Kougami and Tsunemori would have to be done… _but not now_… now they had to find Makishima and send him to prison, once and for all.

* * *

"Inspector Ginoza, I expect you to follow those orders, without any draw back, am I clear?" the grey haired woman said, her lips forming a colorless thin line.

"What are the reasons we should keep Enforcer Kougami out of our investigation?" Ginoza asked, afraid what his superior might have heard about Kougami and Tsunemori.

"We want to re-capture Makishima alive… keep him alive… keep all the threats to his safety away from him…" the threat was veiled, but a threat nonetheless. The higher positions saw Kougami as a target, someone they had to keep under control and far away from Makishima Shogo…

* * *

"This is all very strange…" Masaoka commented, after Ginoza shared the latest news with his team. "Why would they want to keep the best man in Makishima's case away? Are they so worried about his safety? And why? Why is it so important to keep the man alive?" the old man had his face scrunched in deep thoughts, while Akane observed with a dark expression, her wheelchair forgotten beside her.

"And why would they erase all the info about his ability to keep his Psycho-Pass clean?" Kagari asked, remembering the secret orders Ginoza received as well, but shared with them nonetheless.

"Is it because he is her son?" Akane asked, doubtfully, knowing a woman who would abandon her son when he was a child probably didn't want to save him as an adult, unless she had a hidden agenda.

"Probably not… She doesn't look like the motherly type to me…" Kagari said.

"And besides, don't you think it is weird that it was specifically his container that was attacked by the mob? Those transports are readied to survive a catastrophe, but simple humans were able of opening it? And not kill the person inside?" Yayoi replied, while opening the video footage of the scene. "What can guarantee us that those images are real and not some montage?"

Kougami kept silent, smoking his cigarette, while everyone discussed the latest information. When he finally ended his pack, he threw it toward the garbage can and stood up.

"They want him to do something… Something that only someone like him could do… Something that he probably denied… Something that our dear chief is afraid we could find out about… Something that probably connects with the Sybil System…" Kougami said, taking his communicator and showing the written message in there.

"He sent you a message?" Yayoi asked, and Kougami nodded.

"What does he mean with _ You are the only one able of finding out about_ _the real minds behind our justice_? What minds? The Sybil System is only a mechanical device…" Masaoka wondered, with his wrinkles showing more than ever; it looked like he aged years during the last hours.

"There is something strange in this video…" Akane said, observing the hours. "From where we were to the Bureau Building it wouldn't take all this time…" she said, pointing to the hour, minutes and seconds display in one of the corners.

"Unless… he was taken to the Bureau and then for somewhere else… after talking with someone in here…" Kougami said. "And probably this someone gave him some information about the Bureau's hidden agenda…" he pointed towards his communicator where the text could still be read.

"Do you think they helped him escape, thinking he would help them and then he deceived them and ran?" Yayoi asked and everyone looked around, afraid of what they had just discovered.

"This goes way beyond a simple fugitive…" Kagari agreed and then, looking towards Ginoza asked. "Are you going to follow her orders?"

"I have to… there's no way we can keep Kougami in the team… if anyone suspects of us, we lose all our intake in this case…" the Inspector said and all of them sighed.

"Unless… we could trade Kougami with one of the others unit, for instances, the Unit 3 that is helping the area north of the city…" Masaoka started and Ginoza understood immediately what he was trying to say.

"Of course, he could help that way…" Ginoza said, smiling softly at his father's quick thinking.

* * *

Kougami walked behind the new team, feeling Akane's eyes glued to his back. He felt the desire of turning around and kiss her, but he wasn't so sure how much he could confide in that team; they could rat him out to the superiors and if, until now, they kept it a secret, there was no way he would blow it with a reckless action. He had to thank Shion countless times for being good and quick enough to erase parts of the video where he and Akane appeared as a couple and still make it look gullible.

And then, everything went down. A group of robots appeared around them, keeping them from walking toward the transport. All of them showing and echoing the same message about his prohibition of leaving the building.

Shinya could hear, behind him, the two sets of feet pounding the floor. Looking behind, he found Tsunemori and Ginoza with dumbstruck expressions on their faces.

"Did you think you could deceive me like this?" a female voice asked from behind them and Kasei appeared behind them, walking swiftly through the darkness.

Akane saw the scene in a quick succession of movements. How she touched Ginoza's Dominator and made it change her evaluation of Kougami's situation, how she whispered to the bespectacled man words of encouragement, how her presence made her feel cold all over her body, how Kougami's face changed from surprised to resigned and how her own hand acted from its own accord and pointed her Dominator to him. Her message much less threatening than the one in Ginoza's hands. She pulled the trigger and saw the man she loved, the man she swore to protect with her last breath, flew behind towards the floor.

"Ginoza-san, your Dominator needs verification… something is wrong with it…" she said, her eyes glued to Kougami's fallen form and her voice cold and detached, like she was no longer inside her body.

She watched the Unit 3 and Ginoza ran to him, while Kasei turned her back on her, a sour expression over her face. She saw how they transported him towards the upwards floors, Ginoza sparing a pitiful look in her direction.

She felt the Dominator escape through her fingers and realize that in the last ten minutes she could have lost him forever… her knees lost all their strength and she felt her body impact against the floor, hurting all over again her barely healed body.


	23. Chapter 22 Goodbye

**Chapter 22**

**Goodbye**

* * *

Her eyes were heavy, so heavy… however she knew she had to open them. She knew there was something she needed to do. So, she pushed herself and unclosed her eyelids, letting the white light blind her for some seconds.

The woman looked around, observing the room around her. She was laid down on a bed, some monitors surrounding her and biping with her heart's cadence. She didn't know how she ended in a hospital room… _again_… Shinya would kill her! _Wait! Shinya!_

And then, the memories from the garage invaded her mind and she felt the room ooze around her. _She shot him! She really shot him! __**Again!**_ But it probably saved his life, so her regret wasn't as strong as one might think. However, it lingered there and she had to see him and apologize.

Akane tossed the IV's away and rose from the bed, searching for her clothes and finding her shirt and skirt in a neat pile over a chair, with a man's jacket over it. She smiled at Kougami's thoughts and dressed it over her own clothes, knowing how ridiculous she must look with that much bigger jacket over her small frame, but not caring at all.

The room's door opened at her presence and she walked through the hallway, searching for anyone that might have seen him or anyone of her team. Apparently, no one knew where her unity was and after almost an hour of searching she decided to head towards his room.

"Where are you?" she grumbled when he didn't open his door. She kicked the floor and buried her hands inside the jacket's pocket. She felt something inside of it, something with a papery texture. She grabbed it and brought it out, noticing it was two folded pages filled with a neatly script, that she immediately recognized as being Shinya's.

"Oh no…" she whispered, feeling her heart hammer inside her chest. She looked around, noticing two men talking in one of the corridor's extremities. So she ran… she ran towards the stair that would lead her to the building's roof, where she observed him so many times looking over the city.

She fell against a wall, her fist trembling while grabbing the papers. She swallowed hard, finally letting her eyes fall over his words.

_My naïve Akane,_

_I know you will probably hate me after reading this, and if you could, you would have slap me until I gave up… or use that damn Dominator you learned to work with so quickly… but that's why I wrote this, instead of talking to you… because I'm a coward and I couldn't see your disappointed expression while I walked away from you. _

_First, I want to thank you for saving my life… Not only in that garage, but since you entered my life… You brought light and smiles where there was only revenge and scowls, you made smile, not smirk, and you made me hopeful and even if it was just only for some moments… they were worth it!_

_You know what I'm going to do, you know I have to, and you also know that, since the Bureau is no longer helping us, I have to give up and do it as an outlaw. I have to break my promise to you… I'm sorry, I have to lost any sense of justice ruled by the Sybil System that I still held if I want to catch him… _

_You're probably thinking I'm an idiot, right now, and you couldn't be more right, but I want to do this for you. I want you to be safe, more than anything else, even if that makes me selfish. Let me be selfish all I want, I love you, and I will keep you safe. He won't hurt you anymore._

_I have to return to the old ways, so no one can track me, not even you, as I know you would want to._

_I'm safe, don't worry about me… it would be even better if you forget all about me… you could be happier without this uncertainty… So, this is a goodbye… our last goodbye… I can see you sleeping, while I write this, your face is scrunched and thoughtful, like when you are dreaming… I want to touch your forehead and smooth those wrinkles, but if I touch you I won't be able of leaving… ever. I will have the memory of our time together at least… and that's why you will hate me, because I took all your choices of refuting my decision… _

_It hurts, I know it does, but we can't be together after I leave the building. I won't make you a criminal like me and after I kill Makishima no one will ever know about me…_

_So please, forgive… and forget me…_

_Kougami Shinya _

"Idiot!" Akane whispered, the tears running through her cheeks. She crumbled the sheets between her fists and threw it away, watching it fall innocently against the wall; a ball of paper that held her destiny between its lines.

She yelled, feeling the scream rip her throat and chest and all the pain inside of her.

"Stupid! Idiot! Moron! Bastard!" she whispered, her voice lowering with each syllable, her tears streaming down her cheeks, when her eyes caught some of Shinya's words and her heart almost stopped beating for a few seconds. She held her breathe, and grabbed the papers, smoothing it quickly. She touched some of the words with trembling fingers.

The woman smiled and started running towards the building's door, opening it with trembling fingers. She knew how to find him. He gave her the answer without realizing it! And now, she was going to find him and bring him back! She could feel the metal stairs under her pouding feet and then the smooth surface of the floor, characteristic of the hallways.

She ran through the corridor, seeing her destiny in front of her, without worrying about other people's reaction and confused looks, observing her running. She felt the pain in her trunk return with the commotion, but she couldn't care less. The door was in front of her, she grabbed the knob and turned it, entering the room without worrying who might be inside.

"I know that you helped him!" she said, her eyes flashing at finding the person she was searching for, alone in the division. She couldn't control her voice, when she ordered, shakily "_Now tell me where he is!"_

* * *

**I love strong Akane, she is so badass!**


	24. Chapter 23 Reconnection

**Chapter 23**

**_Reconnection_**

* * *

He had his jacket draped over the chair, his shirt's sleeves hovering around his elbows in a messy coil. The gun was in front of him, over the table; the pieces surrounding a cleaning cloth and oil. The bullets were dispersed around the table top, shining under the lamp's light. He sighed, fingering his hair with sadness. He was starting to get restless… He was for too long away from her… He only left her a freaking letter… _She must hate his guts right now!_

And then, he heard a noise from upstairs, the basement's door weakening part of the sound. However, he could swear it was the front door opening and his heart started pumping inside his chest, sending adrenaline throughout his body. Something that resembled footsteps could be heard right over him and grabbing another gun, this one fully loaded, he took the steps one at a time, walking like a predator.

He opened the door and entered the dark hallway, the moonlight the only thing that could illuminate the house and its occupants.

_Yes, there was definitely someone in there, inside, with him_. He could now hear clearly the steps and the raspy breath of someone that looked like just ran a marathon.

The man walked around the house, detecting the person inside the kitchen, where a flashlight could be seen hovering around.

"Don't move!" he ordered in cold, mandatory voice and he heard the person turn around and fall against one of the chairs.

"Ouch…" the invader grumbled and he recognized the voice. Turning the lights on, he found a very flushed Tsunemori Akane with her legs intertwined with two fallen chairs, in the middle of his kitchen.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, surprise showing clearly over his features.

"Won't you put down that incredible lethal weapon?" Akane asked, pointing to his still extended arm which held the gun with a deathly precision.

"Sorry…" he whispered. "But I wasn't expecting anyone to come here… How did you find me?" he asked, lowering his arm.

"Well, for someone so smart, you should be more careful while writing a letter… The only person that could help you in_ "return to the old ways"_ was Masaoka-san… All I had to do was talk with him and explain my part in all this… he saw that I was right… that I should be with you! And so, he told me how he helped you by giving you his old car and farmhouse's keys…" she explained, still sitting on the floor.

He smiled and putting the gun over the table, grabbed her waist and pulled her against his chest. She steadied herself and stepping back, grabbed his face between her hands.

"I should slap you!" she said squeezing his cheeks and making him pout like a child. "But I'm too relieved I found you before you went to find him…" she said and pulled his face towards hers, kissing his lips softly.

When they pulled apart, he hugged her against his chest. She could hear his steady heartbeat and smiled when she realized it was beating with the same cadence as her own.

"You know you are no longer an Inspector, right? Since the moment you turned your back on the Bureau you can't go back… ever again… because they will now, even if they don't right now, in the end everyone will know…" he said and she nodded against his chest.

"I know, but when I choose to work there it was to find my place in this society, you know that… And my place is here: protecting you and the citizens from Makishima's threat…" she said. "I own that to Yuki… she deserves more…" the woman whispered, feeling the lump forming once again in her throat at thinking about her friend.

She blinked repeatedly to erase any tears and smiling at him, asked with a fake-cheerful voice "And what were you doing? Besides pointing your gun at an innocent bystander…"

He scowled and then, with a smug smirk he replied "I thought you liked when I pointed my gun at you…" and Akane stuttered and blushed to the roots of her hair, her eyes wide with his comment.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, but couldn't stay mad for long when he laugh that carefree laugh, so rare in him, but so treasurable because of that. She shook her head at his crude remark, but smiled nonetheless, letting him guide her towards the stair leading to the basement.

"So, this was Masaoka-san's old family house, right? That's what he told me in the short time we talked…" Akane said and Shinya nodded beside her.

"Yes, apparently it was a vacation house, left by some uncle or aunt, I'm not sure… He used to come here with his family…" the man explained and Akane stopped suddenly.

"_His family?_ Do you mean a wife and kids?" the woman asked and Kougami turned around to face her. Their faces were at the same level for the first time while standing, with her still on the stairs' steps and him already on the basement floor.

"Yes…" Kougami nodded. "A wife and a son…" he answered, not wanting to divulge any more information without the two men giving him their permission.

"It's not so hard to imagine, I suppose… He has that kind of feeling a father should have… I wonder what happened with his family when he was labeled as a latent criminal…" Akane wondered, and Shinya decided to take that conversation towards safer waters.

"How did you get here? Are you sure you weren't followed?" he asked and she smiled.

"Why do you think I'm so tired? I walked for three days to get here, alright? Masaoka-san said which routes I should take and he even found an old friend of his to give me a ride for part of the way…" Akane said, without being able of suppressing the fulfilling smile over her face.

Kougami smiled for some moments, until the real meaning of her words caught with his brain.

"_You walked_ _for three days? During the night? For those forsaken roads? What if someone attacked you? You no longer have a Dominator! You could be dead right now!_" he said, grabbing her arms and shaking her a bit.

"Well, I wouldn't have done that if someone didn't decide to cut me out…" she replied with a heated tone marring her voice.

He scoffed and released her, letting his body fall over his previous occupied chair.

"I said once and I'm going to repeat it… You will be the death of me, someday…" he sighed, and he felt her hands over his shoulders, making him relax immediately under her ministrations.

"I will save you every time…" she whispered with such a devotion he felt his heart falter.

She circled him, sitting in his lap and straddling him. He observed her, wide eyed, at her boldness. And if her blush was any indication she was nervous as well. She licked her lips in a way that she hoped was seductive, but for her was only ridiculous. Shinya swallowed nervously, feeling his body heating.

Akane bit his earlobe, while thought like _"You are such an idiot!"_, _"Stop shaming yourself_!" or _"He will think you are a…"_ but other part of her brain, the one that bloomed when she met Shinya, the one ruled by hormones and her own passion, craved that intimacy they had, that total surrender of inhibitions and fears, their connection in all the ways, mental, emotional and physical. She missed that after all the time apart from him.

She noticed his nervous moving and smiled inwardly: at least he didn't think of her as being ridiculous, if his body response was of any indication.

"We shouldn't…" he growled, while his hands roamed around her body, like his brain could no longer control them.

"Please… I need you… I miss _us..._" she whispered, feeling her cheeks flaming, but not stopping her adventurous ministrations. She could see the sweat accumulating in his brow and how his eyes were turning darker with each second.

"Shit!" he cursed, grabbing her bridal-style and carrying her through the stairs, towards one of the bedrooms.

He let her fall gently over the mattress. The sound of their clothes being thrown away mixing with their labored breathes gave the black room a new soundtrack, while their hands touched and grabbed with no shame or bashfulness. If Akane still felt any pain from her injury, her pleasure clouded all that. Shinya's hands touched her in all the right places, breathing her name with a rough voice, making her squirm and whisper his name in ecstasy; her heartbeat so loud in her chest that she feared it could burst suddenly. She forgot how good it was to feel his naked body against her own. How their curves matched perfectly with each other, how she forgot her own shyness when he made her scream his name with each stroke of his body inside her. His perfectly sculptured abs created a pleasurable friction with her belly, while her short nails grabbed his back, bringing him deeper inside of her, with her legs locked behind his lower back. She could hear his labored breath next to her ear, his lips against her earlobe, biting and licking her neck, her cleavage… and when those words fell from his lips, aloud only for the second time since they were together, she felt herself explode and everything around her turned into a smudge of blurry images, only her voice screaming his name permeating through the rush of blood running through her ears.

* * *

"_I love you…"_

_He said that…_ she thought, while eyeing him sleeping illuminated by the moonlight, bathing in their afterglow. _And now he was not going to kill himself to protect you or writing a goodbye letter. He said that knowing you are going to be with him until the end…_ Akane smiled at that prospect, feeling her mind still numb from their pleasurable activities, but so so content. She felt him rustle like he did before waking up and opening slowly his eyes he smirked at her.

"Do you see anything you like?" he asked, smiling softly.

She nodded bashfully, her cheeks still red. He touched her face and his smile widen.

"It's so amazing how you give me so much pleasure and can still be so innocent at the same time… You are an impressive woman, Tsunemori Akane…" he said, rubbing her cheeks softly. She felt her breath hitch and her eyes rolled towards the back of her head, his rough hands bringing those sensations all over again.

"Shinya…" she whispered and he moaned with barely repressed pleasure.

"You are definitely going to be the death of me…" he groaned, before attacking her desperately willing lips.


	25. Chapter 24 Preparations

**Chapter 24**

**Preparations**

* * *

"So, all I have to do is go there and bring the envelope with me?" Akane asked, while Shinya explained what he planned with Masaoka.

"Yes, the old man said he would arrange someone to deliver the envelopes. Since you have a clear Psycho-Pass and were careful enough to ask for a health absence, no one can report you…" Kougami finished. He had to give that to her, she was damn smart in that aspect... until someone started to distrust her long absence...

"See? You're lucky I came here, if you had to go there, you would have to choose secondary routes or even the sewers to walk freely…" Akane rejoiced, wrinkling her nose at the image of the self-composed Kougami Shinya in the middle of that dark and oppressive space.

He rolled his eyes at her reasoning, but smiled nonetheless.

"At least we still have someone inside the Bureau to help us…" Akane said and finally decided to try the mission Kougami gave her that morning: ready herself to shoot an old fashion gun.

It was strange for her to feel the cold metal of the revolver. It was not the first time she grabbed an old gun like that, and that coldness only brought the painful memories of those moments when she thought that Shinya was dead. However, she swallowed that soul wrecking feeling and put her head in the game, memorizing how to load the gun and repeating it over and over, until the movements were ingrained inside her mind and she could do it with a barely conscious thought.

And so, for the next weeks Akane would walk to the destined place, always finding new information about Makishima, from his job as a teacher to some connection with individuals arrested during the riots. Kougami was directed into knowing how true the story he told them was and Masaoka was doing all he could to find any trace of the old scientist and his son. Until now, nothing notorious happened…

* * *

In that Monday morning, the spring was already in bloom, the sakura trees coloring with their pink spectrum the streets and the sky.

Tsunemori Akane was walking with an envelope carefully tucked inside her bag, something telling her that today was the day. They were tired of waiting, their patient running thin, but she refused losing hope… that and open the envelope by herself…

"I'm home…" she announced, closing the door behind her and locking it. She couldn't suppress the smile that those words brought her. It was like they were a normal couple with normal issues like bills, jobs and where to go in the next vacation and not some kind of fugitives stalking a madman to kill him. Those words made her hopeful.

Kougami's voice answered from the kitchen, muffled probably by some kind of food.

"Did you open it?" he asked, already knowing the answer, and Tsunemori shook her head. She never opens it alone.

Shinya put the coffee mug and the pie he was eating, a week old pie, but still tasty nonetheless, down and grabbed the envelope the woman was extending towards him. She could see his suppressed excitement while ripping it open and taking the sheets from inside. His eyes roamed quickly through the written words, with Akane grabbing his mug and taking a sip.

"I know where he is…" Kougami said suddenly, and Akane spit the coffee, coughing in surprise. He clapped her back, helping her expelling all the liquid from her airways.

"Where?" she asked, still feeling her throat raw from the exertion.

"Masaoka was able of finding an old record of Makishima's house… For some time now I've been thinking he probably returned to his house. It makes sense, it's where his observatory exam took place, where all the things that made him who he is happened, from his mother's to his father's actions…" Kougami explained and Tsunemori scowled.

"Why didn't you tell me about that theory?" she asked and he sighed.

"I didn't want you distracted from your training…" he explained and she rolled her eyes. _Her training_… like her ballistic expertise were that bad… she could shoot a target with no problem, the hard part was the feeling the gun brought, the churning of her stomach every time she grabbed it, and the flashes that kept popping in her mind from Shinya's fall and Makishima's face hovering.

"When are we going?" she asked, biting the pie while Shinya drank the rest of the coffee.

"You are not coming…" he answered simply, turning his back on her and opening the water tap to clean the mug.

"What?" Akane replied, feeling the fury rise inside of her. _He had to be kidding!_

"I thought about this… It's better if you don't go… If things turn out badly you can return to the Bureau, but if go you with me, your name will be connected irrevocably with my actions…" Kougami said, without turning around from the sink. Tsunemori could see his knuckles whitening from his strong grip around the basin and walking forward let her hand fall over his and squeezed his fingers.

"I made a promise to myself the moment I crossed that threshold: I would go with you to the end of the world, I would never leave your side, I would protect you and bring you back, and as sure as hell, I will do that exact thing!" Akane proclaimed and the man finally turned to face her. "You are no longer alone… Those walls you built around you… They don't work with me, I can see your soul, and it is beautiful… I love you, Kougami Shinya, and I want to end my days with you by my side, even if those days are just tomorrow and the day after that… But don't worry, I don't have intentions of losing so easily… We are going to find him and… everything will turn into an old memory of a dark past…" Akane said, her hand still around Shinya's.

The man looked at her like it was the first time he really saw her. Like until now, his perception of her was marred by a veil that kept him from seeing all of her being.

"I love you Tsunemori Akane…" he whispered, feeling a tug at his throat while saying those words. They were true, but they were also insignificant if they died in two days, a love story ending in tragedy. Just like something from a Shakespeare's play. He couldn't bear the thought of her death…

"Okay…" he whispered in a resigned tone. "We will go in two days… just enough time to prepare everything…" he said and kissing her temple, left the kitchen towards the basement.

Akane saw him go. His muscular back hidden inside a large t-shirt, so different from his normal formal shirts and jackets, but with the same tense posture she learned to love, in silence, during their work. She sighed, a sad smile tugging at her lips, while his words echoed inside her mind.

"I know you better than you think…" she whispered to herself, while reading the file sent by Masaoka-san and then taking the route towards their bedroom. Without realizing, her back adopted the same tense posture as Kougami's, like they had the weight of the world hanging over them.


	26. Chapter 25 Face to Face

**Chapter 25**

_**Face to face**_

* * *

Kougami Shinya would spend all his life observing Tsunemori Akane if he could. She slept with her knees flexed towards her chest, one of her hands under the pillow and the other over his arm. He touched her short hair with only one finger, afraid of disturbing her sleep. _If he could… if he was a free man with a free will he would marry her, he would live with her for the rest of their lives_, but he was a criminal and a criminal couldn't have those _benefits_…

He got up from the bed slowly, walked soundless through the room and opened the door without Akane moving from her position. He sighed while closing the door and walked the rest of the way towards the basement.

He hated himself for lying to her… again… But he wouldn't put her in danger like that ever again! She was kidnapped once because of him, _damned be him if he let her walk willingly inside the wolf's lure! _

Kougami left the house under the cover of the night, the moon the only thing guiding him towards the car's hide-out. He couldn't risk using a flashlight and accidentally illuminating their bedroom window, waking her up. The car's trunk was already loaded with his guns and the map of his destination: he was not ready to confide in any traceable device until this all ordeal was over.

He looked one more time over his shoulder before pressing the pedal down and letting the house behind, with the woman he loved and the last reminiscence of the man he once was.

* * *

Akane was dreaming, her mind conjuring a pale and deathly face of Shinya, with the light vacant from his eyes and a smear of blood in a corner of his lips. She bolted from the bed, looking around with wide eyes.

"Oh no, I fell asleep!" she moaned, noticing his vacant side of the bed. She tried to stay awake during the entire night, ready to follow him as soon as he left, but a strange tiredness fell over her body like an octopus, trapping her with countless tentacles and in the end she succumbed, without conscience of that defeat. For some moments, she wondered if he drugged her to leave safely without her knowledge, but immediately put that option aside: he would never do that to her.

Springing like a coil, she turned into a hurricane version of herself, changing clothes and grabbing her own bag of guns and a map. She ran from the house towards a hidden car they asked Masaoka to arrange in case their old one stopped working and that, secretly, she prepared for her own use. And then she looked around and realized she had never driven anything as old as this car. It was not automatic as her own vehicle and for some moments she was afraid she wouldn't be able of driving it, but then, everything she learned from Masaoka-san once, when he was talking about his first car, came to her mind and she sighed, following his instructions.

At first, she drove slower than she would have liked, but the environment of that vehicle was still foreigner to her reflexes and she took some time getting used to it, however, as soon as her hands started acting quicker, her foot also stepped deeper into the pedal, making the car flew over the road, the city lights only ghosts beside her window.

Through the whole travel, she kept berating herself of her own mistake at falling asleep, while fighting with the ancient map to find the road she was searching for.

The sun was almost rising when Tsunemori reached the last hour of her travel, the pink invading the sky in soft waves and the clouds fluffy and white, illuminated by rays of orange and yellow.

She could see, far away, cut against the sky, the frame of a big mansion; the light angle stopping her from examining it from a distance. However, she recognized immediately the car parked far away so it could not be detected, between the groups of trees forming a small forest a mile away from the house. Akane parked the car beside the one used by Kougami and got out. She opened the trunk, and took out a duffel bag full with guns, electrifying sticks and some knifes. She breathed deeply, feeling the weight of those deadly weapons over her shoulder. She never thought about hurting another human being, let alone kill, but flashes of Yuki's body, of the dead girls, of the smiling face of her old school friend… of Shinya's face saying goodbye… of Shynia's face when he said he loved her... all of those tugged at her heart, making her resolve stronger.

She started her walk, eyeing the house with a brave face, like she could take away all her fears if she faced that lure with strong enough bravery.

* * *

Kougami parked the car in a considerable distance. He didn't want to be too close or too far away, in case something happened. He took his weapons out and stepped outside of the car, feeling the cold morning air waking him up more than anything. He could still see her face inside his mind and hoped he could see it once again before facing the Bureau's justice or Death's, the one that came first.

He circled the house under the hideout of the trees, looking for any kind of surveillance, not that he thought he could find anything; it was an ancient mansion, probably build during the beginning of the nineteenth century or even before that, showing the uncountable decades through the peeling paint and the ancient style. Even if it wounded him to admit, he enjoyed the nostalgic feeling it brought him, nostalgia from an age he never witnessed, only reading about it, but nevertheless that spoke to him with a stronger voice than the one he was living at. He breathed deeply, inhaling the spring air and walked resolutely towards the house, a gun inside his right hand and a second one inside his pants waistband, the others inside his backpack.

He kicked the door open, showing himself, too tired from hiding and running around like a child playing hide-and-seek. It was liberating walking inside like that, like he was finally showing who he really was, rather than what the Bureau made of him.

"Makishima!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the empty space. He looked around, noticing a big living room on his right and a dining room on his left. The big stairs opening in front of him and dividing on the middle: one to the right side of the upper level, the other one to the left.

He could hear the faint sound of footsteps coming from the top of the stairs and he smiled; he was right after all and in that moment he felt relieved Akane was not here.

"Welcome to my humble house…" the silky voice said, before his owner appeared from the shadows, first his shiny shoes, then two long legs, a slender trunk and then the white hair surrounding his amused eyes.


	27. Chapter 26 Dash

**Chapter 26**

**Dash**

* * *

"I thought you would bring your beautiful flower with you…"

Kougami felt his blood boil, _so he knew she survived_… He wondered what else he might know… and how…

"No, I think it's time we have our match face to face…" Kougami said, lifting the gun in front of his body and pulling the trigger. The bullet flew and so did Makishima, jumping over the rail and falling elegantly beside the stairs in front of Kougami. He ran towards Kougami, while he kept shooting, but the white-haired man had others plans: he was incredible fast, much more than Kougami could ever think humanly possible and in a few strides he was right in front of him. Kougami had already his second weapon out, ready to take him down, not letting the man engage him in a fight where only luck could dictate his victory.

"Don't you want to know what I meant by that message I sent you?" he whispered, feeling the cold barrel of the gun on the forehead, but not feeling any fear.

Kougami thought for some seconds, seduced by the idea of never finding out, just pulling the trigger and end it all.

"What did you mean?" he asked, feeling his heart hammering inside his chest.

And then, a couple of explosions was heard and the house shook. Kougami looked around, surprised, observing the lumber falling and powder misting the air around them.

"She found us…" Makishima said, making Kougami turn to him once again only to see his gun being kicked from his hold. "Sorry, but our chat will have to continue in another day…"

And when the right corner of the house started falling over them, Makishima ran, letting Kougami to find any kind of escaping route from the demolishing house.

He couldn't grasp the reality of what was happening; around him the high columns were falling, cutting his escape, while small detonations happened from all around the house.

Kougami started running towards the front door when another explosion pushed him behind, falling against one of the walls. He looked up from the floor and found himself under a window, the glass all around his body. He shook it from his hair and using that route, jumped from the window, falling softly over the point of his feet.

"What the hell is happening?" a female voice yelled and Kougami stopped dead on his tracks.

"Akane?" he replied, dumbstruck and for a millisecond forgot where he was, but then, with the sound of the house falling apart he remembered, seeing a car flowing from the scene.

"We have to follow him!" Kougami yelled, pointing towards the car and then started running to his own car, Tsunemori following closely behind. She was panting when she reached the already moving car and opened the door, jumping inside.

"Why did you follow me?" Kougami asked, while driving at high speed, trying to find Makishima's car through the traffic.

"You really thought I believed in you? C'mon! I would have followed you sooner, if I didn't fell asleep…" she confessed, feeling her cheeks flushing.

"It would be better that way…" Shinya said and then, spotting the black car pressed the pedal, surpassing the other cars in front of him.

Akane gripped the car's handle, feeling her stomach in knots. She was not afraid of his driving, but she couldn't stop herself from remembering what she found at reaching the house. Small balloons were falling from the sky and for some seconds she watched them mesmerized until they touched the house and exploded; a wave of force and sound much grander than she expected from such small things. She never heard a plane or another kind of air vehicle and that made her even more fearful, because she knew who would be able of doing such things, but at the same time, was still loyal enough to try and deny that.

"Found you…" Shinya smirked, only a few centimeters separating their car from the one Makishima was driving. He tried to surpass him and made him stop, but the cars coming in the opposite direction kept him from being able of doing that.

Until a scream from Akane made him realize what was happening behind him.

"Shinya! Behind us!" and then, he felt the air being expelled from his lungs and their car press Makishima's in such a force that both vehicles exited the road, rolling through the trees and over the hill.

Everything mixed together, creating a hurricane of sounds, colors and smells.

He could smell an acrid thing that his brain called gasoline, but he wasn't able of pinpoint what could happen if that smell didn't disappear, just as he couldn't pinpoint why he was upside down, feeling a warm liquid running from his head.

Kougami opened his eyes and realized he was still inside the car. He looked to his side and found an empty place. His heart started hurting inside his chest, while he searched for her desperately.

The injured man couldn't open his seat belt; his hands shacking too much and slippery from the blood. It was only then that he realized he had blood oozing from his leg and found his pocket knife embedded on the skin. Putting it out with a grunt, he pressed the blade against the seatbelt and cut it, letting his body fall to the roof of the vehicle, now being used as a floor, and crawl outside the wrecked thing.

"Akane!" he yelled, feeling his head fuzzy and stopping himself from vomiting.

He heard a grunt and looking behind found a white-haired man fallen, blood running from his chest like a cascade. When Kougami approached he realized why all that blood… Makishima was impaled in one of the tree's branches, his lips muttering something nonstop. He reached slowly towards his pocket and brought out a small device, his arm shaking and his face, with his shadow-y eyes, looking like the death incarnated.

"Kou…ga…mi…" he whispered, the blood gushing from his lips while he coughed his enemy's name. He extended his arm with the device inside his hand and Kougami accepted it. "Sybil… true… form…" he said, a flash of revenge still appearing in his blind eyes. He could no longer see Kougami, his hand searching aimlessly through the ground, searching for something to save himself, searching for someone to grab into… but Kougami stepped back, not giving the man a last touch of a human being in his last moments: he deserved to know how it felt to suffer… and if he wasn't the one to kill him, he wouldn't be the one to save him, even if he had the chance.

"Akane…" he repeated, looking around, limping his useless leg stained with blood and barely seeing through his bloodied forehead.

And then he saw her. She was over a small mound of green grass, her eyes closed peacefully, white flowers around her head and his heart stopped at that vision, because he couldn't see her chest moving.

* * *

**I know this Makishima was much more "innocent" than the one from the anime, since he didn't had that last plan with the virus, but I always saw this ending for him in my story...**


	28. Chapter 27 Oh boy!

**Chapter 27**

_**Oh boy…**_

* * *

"Oh please no!" he moaned, feeling his knees buckle. He had to crawl toward her body, his breathing too quick for his own good, while pleading words kept pouring from his mouth.

His trembling fingers touched her softly, flashes from her kidnap echoing in his mind, however, this time, it was not someone else's fault. It was all his own, he was the one driving, he was the one not paying attention, he was the one not good enough at lying…

"Akane…" he whispered beside her ear, the cold fingers of her hand, limp, inside his own.

And then, her fingers moved.

He looked down, like someone waking from a dream, still dazed and confused. He put his tired and oozy head against her chest, hearing a soft heartbeat inside. Kougami almost wept with relieve, his headache turning his skull into a hammer. He felt his temples trembling like an earthquake was happening inside his brain. Fighting to keep his conscience, he was only able of calling a single number on his phone, praying that the person could answer and help them. He felt his body fall through the black tunnel, the forest and the girl around him turning into a distant point of light, before disappearing inside his own troubled mind.

* * *

The man could hear voices from far away, reaching his brain in a slower speed than they were being spoken. He knew those voices… He knew those quick and effective tones: something happened, something that needed his full attention.

The male opened his eyes slowly, testing the brightness of the room and was with the relieve that found almost all the lights shut down. He looked around, locating where the voices were coming from.

_There they are…_ he thought, seeing two men talk quickly with someone out of his vision field. When they moved he noticed it was a third man, a man that he only knew from the television, with his ironed expensive suits and silky black hair, the country's leader, Tsukino Takumi. He ruled over the country as a president with the monopoly of power over all the Public Institutions, a bit like the kings during the ancient days.

Kougami wondered what the hell someone as him was doing in that place, talking with Ginoza and with the man responsible for the Enforcers Program, Inoue Haruki.

"I don't know, sir…" Ginoza was saying, when Kougami tried to eavesdrop. He noticed the coldness in the man's voice, and the feeling that something really wrong happened made itself more presentable in his gut.

"What you proposed, Ginoza-san… It is madness…" Tsukino replied, his voice barely suppressing the anger.

"The society will know, unless you act beforehand… She is already in custody, now all you have to do is arrange the way to judge the judges..." Ginoza said, his voice cynical.

"You could be seen as a criminal…" Inoue tried to say in pacifying tone.

"All of us could be seen as criminals, if our society found out about the Sybil System… The best we can do is minimize the side-effects by acting quickly and effectively, restarting the old investigation programs, use part of the knowledge we gained with this situation to find criminals and make sure no one ever finds out the truth…" Ginoza said, and for moments Shinya could see Masaoka's voice echoing behind his son's words.

Tsukino sighed, rubbing his temples. The shadows under his eyes showed the man, probably, spent the last nights awake, probably trying to disarm that ticking bomb before it blew between his fingers, whatever it was…

The three men looked between each other, measuring the other two. Their eyes, even if Kougami couldn't see all of them, were probably calculating and cold and he shivered, wondering what might have happened that put their society in such danger that only those three men could resolve it.

When Tsukino and Inoue left, with no farewell or other polite words between them, Ginoza walked inside Kougami's room, noticing the man's open eyes.

"Did you hear that?" he asked and Shinya nodded.

"What the hell is going on?" Kougami asked and Ginoza sighed, pulling a chair and sitting beside the hospital's bed. "Where is Akane? Is she alright?"

"Answering your question, yes, she is alive, I don't have a lot of information, since everything is happening at the same time, but she will live… About the first one… Well, we found something inside your hand…" Ginoza said, and Kougami nodded, remembering the moments before Makishima's death. He could now breathe easily knowing Akane was safe, and since he couldn't make his body move to go and find her, he just made himself comfortable and waited for the Inspector's explanation.

And then, the Inspector started narrating about the video they found inside it. Makishima's own memorial, his information about the true nature of the Sybil System and his conversation with his mother.

"Wait… so his mother was able of keeping a clear Psycho-Pass as well?" Kougami asked and Ginoza nodded. "God, that family was so messed up…" he said, replaying in his mind how the woman tried to make her son choose the place as one of the Judges, giving his body and brain up for the Sybil System, and in trade, be able of judging and using the others Judges' bodies as he well intended…

"Makes us wonder who was the real villain in all this story…" Kougami sighed. "It will be hard to adjust..."

"Our society existed before the Sybil System and it will keep existing after that." a deep voice said from the threshold and Masaoka, with his arm in a sling, entered the room.

"What happened?" Kougami asked, eyeing the older man's injured arm.

"Kasei tried to resist the arrest…" Masaoka said simply.

"She tried to shoot me, because I was the one doing the arrest, and this old man got in the way and ended up injured…" Ginoza completed in a cold voice, that couldn't hide the love and appreciation behind his irises.

"Well, he couldn't let his son die, could he?" Kougami said and Ginoza rolled his eyes.

"He could have ended up dead instead…" the man replied, and the other two noted how his voice changed. He coughed to hide the discomfort, while Masaoka smiled behind him.

"Do you know anything about the missy?" Masaoka asked and Ginoza turned to face him.

"I just know what the doctor said when he first saw her, that she was going to live…"

Kougami looked from one man to another, gritting his teeth.

"So, she is all alone in a strange place?" he asked, the fury barely concealed. The two men turned to face him and found him already half way from the bed. "I have to find her. I heard everything like a good boy, now I have to go get her!" he growled and using the crutches beside his bed, rose to his full height in a somewhat unstable way.

Limping through the hallways, Kougami heard how Masaoka received his call, tracking his phone and sending a team to get them. Since the alarm was already given because of the mansion's explosions, the help was much quicker than normal.

When they finally found the doctor that was responsible for Akane's case and he turned from his conversation with two other persons, they found themselves face to face with Kagari and Yayoi.

"KO!" the male yelled, waving his hand. "Man, we thought you were already fried fish…" he said, with a big smile coloring his face.

"What are you doing here?" Kougami asked and the two Enforcers pointed to Ginoza.

"He brought us…" Yayoi explained simply. "And the doctor was going to give us some information about Akane right now…"

The man looked around, not knowing to whom he should direct his words, so, taking a non-committed decision, stepped back, so he could face everyone.

"She is alright, still sleeping, but as healthy as we could expect in this situation…"

"Why is she still asleep?" Kougami asked, afraid that the doctor was keeping information about her health from them.

"Well, she was in a state similar to yours, but taking her condition into the equation, we thought it would be better if she was kept under surveillance a bit longer…"

"Her condition?" Masaoka asked, worried.

"Yes…" the doctor said, not knowing if he should disclose that kind of personal information. "Well, her pregnancy…"

"What?" Kagari yelled, his eyes almost popping out from its sockets, while beside him, Kougami had to support himself against the wall before fainting.

Everyone turned to face Kougami, who, in that moment, pale faced and shocked, felt more fear than during the entire ordeal inside Makishima's house. He was going to be a father? Oh boy…


	29. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_**Happiness**_

* * *

"I'm home…" a male voice echoed from the front door, through the house.

After closing the front door, the man quickly closed the distance between the hall and the library, where he knew someone would be expecting him. Someone he missed dearly even if it was only two days since their last meeting.

The woman was sitting in front of an open French door, observing with a content smile the pinkish sky. The light was insufficient for her to keep reading, so her book, an old edition given by a dear friend of her, was tucked carefully between the right side of her body and her chair.

The man entered the library, smiling at seeing her brown hair, now much longer than when he first met her, shining under the sunset light.

"Hey…" he said softly, bending to kiss her temple. She turned to face him and smiled, her glowing face just another proof of their love.

"And how are you?" he asked, touching her round belly, now too big to let the woman see her own feet while standing.

"She was good… I think she liked the story, since she was so quiet…"

"That or she thought it was boring…"

"Shinya! Masaoka-san had a hard time finding this book after all those years… It was the first one he read to Ginoza-san!" Akane scolded him and Shinya rose his hands in a placating manner. "And how was everyone?" she asked, while he pulled another chair and sat beside her.

"They are good… With more work than they can count, but they are happy… Ginoza is running the things and Tsukino is relying on him more than ever… I think in a few months he will be appointed as the new president of the Bureau… Saiga is starting a new course for the Inspectors to learn how to analyze criminals and Masaoka is already teaching a new one about investigative procedures…" Shinya said, while letting his head fall against the back of the chair.

"I miss them…" Akane sighed and Shinya grabbed her hand and squeezed.

"I know, but for now, we have to keep a low-profile… No one knows about the baby, and even if the Sybil System is slowly being dismounted, a relationship between an Enforcer and an Inspector might bring some problems to them…Tsukino knowing is already a person too much… " Shinya said, trying to qualm the woman's sadness.

"I know we are lucky for being together like this…" Akane said, but he knew what was unsaid: she missed their job, protecting people and chasing criminals, and he would be lying if he said he didn't miss it too; it was who they were and how they met.

"At least, our knowledge about what really happened gave us some leverage…" Kougami said, looking around the space with a meaningful look.

Ginoza, as a way to thanks them and protect the child the couple was going to have, made a deal with Tsukino Takumi, asking for the forgiveness of all the crimes that could be appointed to Akane and Shinya and the liberty to live in a safe place, wherever they liked. And it was no surprise when they choose the farthest possible from civilization, choosing a country mansion, beside a lake, where Akane was starting to surpass her fear of water, at least in some degree.

"Sometimes I wonder how everyone will live without the Sybil System making the choices for them…" Akane speculated, when Shinya rose to close the French doors and protect them from the nighty chill.

"Well, I believe they do it better than anyone could expect… I think in some corner of people's mind that desire of choosing of their own accord, the liberty to take risks and just try something new are still there. But they aren't taking the System away in a radical way; they are adjusting the things slowly and methodically, to protect the society from itself… Just like they did with the helmets and their destruction, while keeping the society from imploding…" Shinya said, stowing his chair in its place of origin and extending his arm to help Akane rising up.

"By the way, Kagari sent some toys and Yayoi recorded a song with Shion's help and send it too…" Kougami said, while they walked through the moonlit house.

"She started singing again? I'm so happy for her! I have to call her and thank her…" Akane said, a smile shining over her lips.

When they sat around the kitchen table and Akane started serving the dinner, she couldn't stop herself from saying what she had on her mind for a long time now.

"You are going to be an excellent father, Shinya…"

"And why is that?"

"Your eyes… They shine when you look at my belly like you are watching a miracle… it happens every time, even if you don't notice it…" she explained softly.

"Of course I'm watching a miracle… For me to have you and a baby… those two things are my personal miracles… my light even in the darkest night…" he whispered, his eyes fixed on hers, making her breathe hitch. He rose from his place and kneeled in front of her.

"I love you, Shinya…" she breathed.

"I love you, Akane… and our small miracle…" he mouthed, bringing her hand against his heart. "Would you answer a question I have to ask?" he asked and she nodded, curious. "Do you marry me, Tsunemori Akane?"

She felt the tears pile in her eyes, before nodding with a huge smile splattered over her face.

Kougami laughed and standing up, grabbed her, with her big belly between their bodies and spun her around, filling the house with the echo of love and commitment, the two vows the couple wanted to cultivate, protect and bloom during their entire lives. The vows and promises that helped them survive their darkest hours and come back stronger than ever.

"We are going to be really happy, Akane…"

"We already are…"

_The End_

* * *

**This one was one of the hardest to write. Why? Because I couldn't be sure that I wanted to show the baby or not, if I should make everyone appear in the end or just make a sweet thing about those two. I hope you are satisfied with the ending, even being hard, it's one of my favourites, because even being something simple shows how far Akane and Shinya were able of reaching in their fight for a happy ending.**

**So, thank you so much for your support, especially Aoi Kitsukawa, for being such an amazing reader, with all those amazing comments and insight of the story (yup, totally saw the baby coming)**

**So, bye! ;)**


End file.
